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Kyle Dubas’s Penguins Trade Trees, The Good & Bad
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- Kyle Dubas’s Penguins Trade Trees, The Good & Bad
Kyle Dubas’s Penguins Trade Trees, The Good & Bad
The Buffalo Sabres selected center Konsta Helenius . Other top prospect centers, such as Sash Boisvert and Michael Hage, were also on the board with what would have been the Pittsburgh Penguins ' selection (14th overall) in the 2024 NHL Draft.
That was the cost of the Penguins' Erik Karlsson trade on Aug. 6, 2023. The deal was the first major swap of the Kyle Dubas era, and he intended to give the team one more good shot at a playoff run.
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The deal didn't have the intended effects, as the Penguins have missed the playoffs in each of Karlsson's two years, and Hage has become one of the top Canadiens prospects.
The Karlsson trade is the biggest trunk of the Dubas Penguins trade trees, and it's effects are far-reaching for a couple of organizations.
San Jose used the pick to trade and a second-rounder to move up three places from 14 to 11 to select London Knights forward Sam Dickinson, who also seems to have a healthy future, too.
Of course, San Jose also got very good use of Mikael Granlund , whom Dubas included in the Karlsson trade. Granlund had a brutal 2022-23 season, split between Nashville and the Penguins, but got on track with San Jose, scoring 60 points in 69 games his first season and 45 points in 52 games last season.
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San Jose got Dallas 's first-round pick by trading Granlund to Dallas at the trade deadline. In case it matters, the second-round pick that Dubas sent to the Montreal Canadiens to facilitate the trade became Russian goalie Semyon Frolov .
More Penguins Trade Trees
We have not included all trades because some are simple X for Y deals. In reverse chronological order:
Anthony Beauvillier
It was a great bit of asset management by Dubas to not only sign Beauvillier to a bargain deal but then flip him to the Washington Capitals for a 2025 second-round pick.
But the trade tree doesn't end there. The vines tangled with another trade. After Dubas acquired a pair of late first-rounders in the 2025 draft by dealing away the 12th overall pick (acquired in the Drew O'Connor/Marcus Pettersson trade), Dubas used the acquired 31st overall pick and the Capitals' second-round pick to move up to 24th overall.
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The combination of the picks became Will Horcoff.
Michael Bunting
Dubas sent Bunting to Nashville in exchange for Tommy Novak and Luke Schenn .
Schenn wasn't keen on sticking around on a team that wasn't going to the playoffs, and the Penguins got a 2026 second-round pick and a 2027 fourth-rounder.
Check back next year for the second-rounder.
Drew O'Connor/Marcus Pettersson
Melvin Fernström
Vincent Desharnais
Danton Heinen
Rangers 1st round pick (12th overall).
The haul for O'Connor and Pettersson from the Vancouver Canucks was substantial:
The 12th pick became the 22nd and 31st overall picks from the Philadelphia Flyers .
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With the 22nd overall pick, the Penguins selected future freight train Bill Zonnon . Then the 31st became the 24th with Beauvillier's 2nd, and Horcoff became a Penguins prospect.
This trade tree is still growing. Desharnais became a 2028 fifth-round pick.
Lars Eller
The Penguins dealt the frustrated Eller back to his hockey home, Washington, for a 2025 fifth-rounder and 2027 third-rounder.
That 2025 fifth-round pick became center Ryan Miller from the Portland Winterhawks.
Get back to us in 2027 for the third-rounder.
Cody Glass
The Penguins took on the unwanted salary from the Nashville Predators for a 2025 third-round and 2026 sixth-round pick.
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The Penguins used that third-round pick to acquire big, but raw goalie Gabriel D'Aigle (84th overall).
The post Kyle Dubas's Penguins Trade Trees, The Good & Bad appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now .
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