The Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 NHL trade deadline.DENVER — Trade deadline week has arrived.A couple of noteworthy moves were made around the NHL over the weekend, but the Penguins haven’t struck yet. It’s only a matter of time.Penguins hockey boss Kyle Dubas will be in the spotlight for the next five days, looking to add young assets as he has done aggressively for a year.Veterans such as Matt Grzelcyk, Anthony Beauvillier and Noel Acciari are available. It would be a surprise if at least one of them isn’t moved.Most of the Penguins roster, for that matter, is available.The Penguins have a serious advantage. They are one of only a handful of NHL teams clearly in sell mode. There are only six teams — the Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, Seattle Kraken, Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators — more than six points out of a playoff spot entering Tuesday night’s games. That’s it. Six.While a couple of other teams, namely the Anaheim Ducks and New York Islanders, figure to be sellers, most of the NHL either fancies itself as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender or as a team that can at least qualify for the postseason. So, most of the league is more likely to pursue adding talent than selling it.As such, first-round draft picks have been handed out like candy this trade season. Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor? They delivered the Penguins a first-round pick. Cody Ceci and Mikael Granlund? San Jose received a first-round pick from Dallas for those two. Seth Jones? First-round pick.There are seller’s markets, and then there is this.The Penguins’ brain trust is aware and has potentially altered its plans because of the market.In other words, Dubas might be bracing for a very busy week. Fire sale, no. Multiple trades, yes.Dubas couldn’t have known that the market would be this extreme. The truth is, no one ever really knows how a market will turn until it does. It’s the perfect time to be a seller. There are probably a dozen teams that believe they can win the Stanley Cup, and they’re correct. The league is wide open, with no real favorite emerging. The Penguins are hoping this will lead to some volatility around the league, which could produce large offers in trade talks.• You know when a team is drafting and it’s in “best player available” mode?Well, the Penguins are in a position where they feel that kind of flexibility — think of it as the “best player available” option but in reverse.Would the Penguins be well served to add draft picks? Sure. How about prospects? Even better. Good, young, NHL players? Jackpot. They’re also more than willing to unload a bad contract as part of a more complex trade. Think Tristan Jarry or Ryan Graves.All of the above would be Christmas presents in March for the Penguins. Dubas will consider all possibilities in transactions. He doesn’t necessarily have a preference, either — it’s a matter of analyzing which option makes the most sense.• Don’t be shocked if the Penguins make their biggest splash a day or two before Friday’s deadline. The reason is simple and logistical. Only seven hours after the deadline expires, the Penguins play the Golden Knights in Vegas. They don’t want to find themselves in a position where they have fewer than 20 players capable of dressing. If they make several deals on deadline day, that could happen. It’s not easy to swiftly get players to a location three time zones away.Sure, it doesn’t matter if the Penguins win these days. Many fans are hoping they tank, after all. But this is more a matter of player safety than integrity, even though both are legitimate concerns. If you have only 16 skaters, for instance, you risk certain players logging significant minutes and increasing their chances of injury.So, yes, the Penguins may well make a move, or even multiple moves, on Friday. But I’d be surprised if something doesn’t go down before Friday. The Penguins don’t play on Wednesday or Thursday. Those seem like fertile days for Dubas to make a move.• As mentioned last week in this very space, the Penguins are willing to trade Erik Karlsson. The front office views his inclusion on the Penguins roster as a worthy experiment that simply hasn’t worked. Karlsson is well-liked by his teammates. His talent, Hall of Fame resume and offensive brilliance seem to be appreciated by the organization. But he is not viewed as part of the team’s future, and the Penguins would prefer to remove his $10 million cap hit for two more seasons from their books.So, what happens? On the surface, it seems a summer deal is more likely. No serious talks about Karlsson have taken place and, given the magnitude of his contract and the cap rising significantly next season, moving him this summer is very possible. League sources have told me Karlsson enhanced his stock greatly at the 4 Nations Face-Off.Karlsson confirmed on Sunday that he hasn’t been asked to waive his no-movement clause. Penguins team sources believe there are some teams Karlsson would waive the clause for. But only some.• Rickard Rakell is available for a steep price. Dubas doesn’t feel any particular pressure to ship him away, but he also knows that Rakell is one of the most gifted forwards on the market. Given how eager buyers are to add talent, the Penguins are waiting to see how much Rakell could fetch them in the final days before the deadline when offers typically escalate.Some Western Conference teams have already expressed interest in Rakell.• Alex Nedeljkovic is not unmovable, but the Penguins do like the idea of having him around their stable of young goaltenders.• There is no indication that the Penguins have asked Bryan Rust or Kris Letang to waive their no-movement clauses. Rust’s expires in July.• In non-trade news, P.O Joseph played well in the early days of his return to the Penguins. Lately, however, he has struggled mightily, and his issues came to a head last week in Philadelphia.Joseph isn’t big, so the coaching staff wants him to compensate for that with attitude and an abrasive style. He can do it for small stretches, but eventually, his eagerness to defend with an edge dissipates. I don’t foresee Joseph as part of the Penguins’ future moving forward.(Photo of Anthony Beauvillier: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
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