NHL Rumors: Penguins Willing To Trade Young Assets For Impact Player
The Pittsburgh Penguins are not bottoming out, but they're not running it back either.
They are looking for the trade that splits the difference.
Per Pittsburgh Hockey Now's Dan Kingerski, Dubas said explicitly that he wants to acquire impact players in their mid-to-late 20s who can play immediately and be part of the franchise's future simultaneously.
He also admitted he did not know if such a trade was possible.
Why the Search Is Harder Than It Sounds
The Penguins finished second in the Metropolitan Division with 98 points, made the playoffs, and lost to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round.
That result puts them in the uncomfortable middle ground where they are too good to bottom out and land a top draft pick, and the teams with the young impact players Dubas wants are generally pushing hard to keep them.
The window for acquiring an impactful under-25 player is narrow and requires a combination a lot of things on both sides that rarely come together.
It’s hard to quantify what Egor Chinakhov added to this team when he arrived in Pittsburgh.
— Penguins Jesus (@PenguinsJesus) April 11, 2026
But this man I believe was a large part of the Penguins going from a lottery team to a playoff team. pic.twitter.com/S7kb0wI0X6
Dubas has done it before, however.
He acquired Egor Chinakhov from Columbus mid-season for a package that Columbus valued more than the market did, and Chinakhov immediately became one of Pittsburgh's most productive forwards.
Finding the next version of that move is the task.
What Pittsburgh Would Use
Danila Yurov of the Minnesota Wild was named one of the five most interesting names worth monitoring for Pittsburgh.
He's a 22-year-old Russian left wing who has been buried in Minnesota's lineup despite showing legit offensive skill. He recorded 12 goals and 27 points in 73 games this season, while averaging 13:18 time on ice.
The Penguins have four picks in the first three rounds of the 2026 draft, including their own first-rounder, a second-rounder from Winnipeg, and a third-rounder from Nashville, giving Dubas some packaging ability.
Danila Yurov my word 🤯 #MNWild pic.twitter.com/7LCk7hc3lQ
— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) March 11, 2026
Per Pittsburgh Hockey Now, the 2022 draft class of Pickering, McGroarty, and Koivunen faces their make-or-break fifth year in 2026-27, and Dubas is willing to include any of them in a trade if the right impact player is available on the other side.
The defense is the area Dubas identified as requiring the most improvement heading into next season, per his press conference comments, making a right-shot defenseman in his mid-20s the most urgent profile on the target list.
Whether Pittsburgh ultimately swings a big deal or adds through a quieter series of smaller moves depends entirely on what the market produces between now and training camp.
Photo Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
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