NHL Trade Rumors: 2 More Young RFA Forwards Linked To Penguins As Trade Targets

Pittsburgh Penguins GM Kyle Dubas has made it clear that he wants his team to get younger, and while the Jake Guentzel trade was the first move in that direction, there are several other avenues the team can take this summer.

Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now has suggested some "young, unhappy and unsigned" candidates around the league that the Pens can try to swoop in on, either via offer sheet or trade.

Nick Robertson, Toronto Maple Leafs

This one is a natural, as Dubas drafted Robertson for the Leafs in the second round (#53 overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft. He burst onto the scene with Toronto in the 2020 playoffs, but has never been able to land a regular job with the Leafs since then. Much of that is due to his inability to stay healthy; injuries have kept him out of the lineup for both the NHL Marlies and the Leafs on numerous occasions over the past four years.

But he's young, 22, can score and make things happen, as evidenced by his 14 goals and 27 points in 56 games in the NHL this season, with only 11 1/2 minutes on average per night to work with. His AHL stints have seen him regularly average a point per game. Maybe Dubas wants to give Robertson a second chance in a new organization. He's an RFA this summer without arbitration rights.

Max Jones, Anaheim Ducks

A bit older at 26, Jones is a former first-round pick in the 2016 NHL draft. As a bottom-six forward, at 6'3", 216 pounds, he can add quite a bit of size and bang around some bodies. He's also an RFA, but does have arbitration rights. He's coming off a three-year contract with the Ducks with a cap hit of $1.295 million.

Kingerski also mentioned Arthur Kaliyev of the Los Angeles Kings as an option, also an RFA, with no arbitration rights. He's already been linked to the Penguins earlier this week. Kaliyev is in Kings' GM Rob Blake's doghouse, and looks like he's on the way out of Hollywood.