Josh Yohe of The Athletic writes about Pittsburgh Penguins forward Rickard Rakell and what the team might do with the 31-year-old as they approach the NHL Trade Deadline. Yohe believes that the Penguins would be open to trading Rakell if a team offers up a first-round pick and a prospect who is close to being NHL-ready. That being said, Pittsburgh is also open to holding onto him if they aren’t blown away by the trade offers they receive.
Rakell is generating trade interest thanks to a terrific bounce-back season that has seen him tally 25 goals and 23 assists in 56 games. The Sundbyberg, Sweden native was an afterthought earlier in the year when it came to Sweden’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster but played his way onto the team late as injuries and a strong season opened the door for him to join his countrymen.
It’s quite the story, given that a year ago, many people in the hockey community were looking at Rakell’s contract as a problem for the Penguins. He was limited to 15-22–37 in 70 contests in 2023-24, his lowest production in a full season in nearly a decade. A year later, his $5MM cap hit looks pretty good, even if it does carry him for another three seasons until he is 34.
Rakell has played almost exclusively with Crosby this season and has developed excellent chemistry with him and Bryan Rust. The trio has skated over 400 minutes together at 5v5 and has controlled a sparkling 56.3% of expected goals, per MoneyPuck. If the Penguins were to trade Rakell, it would mark the second consecutive season they have dealt Crosby’s preferred winger after the team traded Jake Guentzel last March.
While a Rakell trade is possible, Yohe believes that the Penguins will likely hold onto him and see if his value is higher in the summer when the salary cap increases. The Penguins have good reasons to keep the six-time 20-goal scorer, but with their eyes set on a quick roster retool, trading Rakell could go a long way to acquiring valuable assets to turn things around in a hurry.
Dubas holds the cards with Rakell.
IF a team wants to blow you away, a first round pick plus a real prospect (better than any of the guys we got for Jake) maybe a third or fourth, thrown in for fun, THEN trade him.
If not, when the cap goes up, his $5 M AAV will look even better and every team in the league could bid on him, rather than just contenders.
I’d also listen on Rust and move at least one of them.
IF you get back the kind of young wingers who could play with Sid, then move both.
I will eat a puck if anyone pays a 1st + legit near-league ready prospect (Top 100?) for Rakell on that contract.
One or the other, sure.
I think it’s a lot more possible than you think. If teams think they are going to get that kind of production out of him for 5 million year for the next couple of seasons while contracts go up. They will jump at the price quickly. Contracts going to climb fast in the next couple of seasons as cap gets to 100 million
Or teams are aware of the Crosby variable and realize when they don’t skate together…Rakell kinda sucks
Nobody thinks he’ll sustain this for the next couple of seasons. His WOWY with Crosby is laughable.
What if I told you and Pawtucket that Kyle Dubas is such a great gm that he would trade a 1st and a top prospect to someone else so he could keep rakell?