Report: Penguins Ready To Trade Veteran Forward

The Pittsburgh Penguins may finally be ready to move on from one or more of their much-sought-after veterans, after a couple of seasons of rumors. 

According to insider Elliotte Friedman on Saturday Night Hockey, the Pens are ready to scale up their youth movement. 

Pittsburgh has made it clear they would move a veteran forward for draft picks or prospects to give their younger players more opportunity, as they continue to transition to a younger roster.

The "veteran forward" he's referring to could most likely be Bryan Rust or Rickard Rakell.

Rust, 34, is earning $5.125 in AAV, with one more year remaining on his deal after this one. He's spent his entire 13-year career with the Penguins. He's on a seven-season run of scoring at least 20+ goals, while setting career highs the past two years with 65 points. Rust has three goals in six games this season. 

Rakell is one year younger and has a $5M AAV, which also runs through the end of next season. He's in his sixth season in Pittsburgh, but is off to a much slower start, with only two assists in nine games. He does, however, have three 30-goal seasons on his resume, the last coming just two years ago, when he popped 35 along with 70 points. 

Another option could be 30-year-old Andrei Kuzmenko, who is on a one-year deal, also at $5M. The Russian forward is in his first season in Pittsburgh, but hasn't been a top-notch offensive threat since his rookie season with Vancouver four years ago when he had 39 goals. Since then, he's scored 22, 11, and 13 goals over the past three years, across four different teams. He has been held scoreless through five games this season, though he's been dealing with a family tragedy and has missed some time. 

A couple of veterans on the blueline could also be on the trade block at some point this season for GM Kyle Dubas, with former 3-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson being the biggest name, along with Samuel Girard.