Report: Penguins Fire Sale Could Happen 'Pretty Quickly'

The Pittsburgh Penguins came out last season and surprised the critics—and everyone else around hockey—with an unexpected second-place finish in the Metropolitan Division and their first playoff appearance in four years. 

That's now looking like an aberration, however, and GM Kyle Dubas has to be looking at reinventing the team after their 5-9-2 start leaves them with the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference going into the weekend. 

Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now cited Elliotte Friedman's statement on The Fan Hockey Show, suggesting that Dubas might not wait around too long to make some moves:

I think they could change pretty quickly. I mean, it all depends on … a lot of those guys have no trade protection, so what are they willing to do? The other thing too, is Dubas has shown that he has a pretty high line. Some of the guys that ... have been talked about, he says he won’t trade them unless he gets a certain level of return.

There are a couple of flies in the ointment of any quick Penguins reshuffling, however. 

First, as Friedman alluded to, he's not going to give up his veterans for pennies on the dollar. Secondly, "Guys like (Evgeni) Malkin and (Erik) Karlsson, they have a say, right? And they have a lot of say,” said Friedman. “And I also think that Dubas would be kind of like, ‘I’m not going to insult any of these guys. I want to know where they want to go,’ if this is happening. But there’s no question (moves will be made).”

Malkin will be submitting a three-team trade list as part of his one-year contract, and Karlsson has a full no-move. Both are pending UFAs.

As for other veteran names, Rickard Rakell has an eight-team no-trade list, though Bryan Rust does not have any trade protection. They each have another year to run on their deals after this one.

In the end, assuming he gets approval, Dubas could move just about anybody on the team, says Friedman. "Is there anybody there, aside from Crosby, who's truly off-limits?"