The St. Louis Blues needed their second-round pick to offer sheet Edmonton Oilers restricted free agent defenseman Philip Broberg, but they had already given it up so the Pittsburgh Penguins would accept Kevin Hayes in trade.
Penguins president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas profited by giving St. Louis the Penguins 2025 fifth-rounder but also swapping second-round picks, returning St. Louis’s needed 2025 second-rounder in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick and a 2025 third-rounder.
A fifth-round selection for a third-round selection. Not bad.
St. Louis offer sheeted by Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway, whose $2.29 million offer rose to the third-round pick compensation level.
In total, St. Louis has put their second and third-round picks on the line for Broberg and Holloway, and the Penguins have already benefited once.
Edmonton is well over the salary cap and is reportedly working the NHL trade market to move defensemen Cody Ceci or Brett Kulak quickly.
However, rival GMs aren’t fools (except on July 1), and the asking price to accept one of the defensemen, thus clearing enough space to keep Holloway at least, is rumored to be a first or second-round pick–that’s well above the established market value.
Realize that Dubas accepted a second-rounder for Hayes’s $3.5 million salary for two seasons.
In a pure act of double-agent villainy, the Penguins could profit a second time. Kulak is a 30-year-old stay-home defenseman who had big offensive totals in juniors. He has some power play skills and makes $2.75 million for two more seasons. Ceci, who spent one season as a Penguin (the short 56-game COVID campaign in 2021-22), will make $3.25 million this season before hitting free agency.
The Penguins’ right side is largely set with Jack St. Ivany taking the third pairing, so a Ceci acquisition would only serve to blunt the development of a young player and eat unnecessary cap space.
However, Kulak makes some real sense for the Penguins, whose left side includes Marcus Pettersson, Matt Grzelcyk, Ryan Graves, and Sebastian Aho. Kulak falls into the same category as Grzelcyk as a decent defenseman who is generally acceptable without being more. Kulak could actually improve the Penguins defense and be a top-four D-man, especially if Graves doesn’t rebound from a poor 2023-24 season.
Kulak could also provide some insurance should the Penguins trade or not re-sign Pettersson.
Based on recent market value, including the Penguins accepting Cody Glass with a third and sixth-round pick (but including depth prospect Jordan Frasca), Kulak’s $2.75 million salary is worth a third-rounder.
Perhaps Dubas can squeeze a 2026 or 2027 second-rounder out of Edmonton or settle for the third and, in the process, make his team just a little better.
Penguins Salary Cap
According to Puckpedia, the Penguins have 14 forwards on the NHL roster and just over $1 million in cap space. So, it won’t be easy to clear enough to get Kulak, but it’s possible.
The path probably includes a Penguins trade that most assume is coming.
First, the Penguins could put one of the veterans through waivers, earning $1.15 million in additional space, bumping their cap space up to about $2.2 million. Or, the team can place Matt Nieto, whose career may be over, on long-term injured reserve and bump their total to about $2 million.
With some other veteran shuffling on the blue line, they can reach about $2.4 —which wouldn’t be enough.
However, if Dubas is willing or able to move one of the veterans, such as Lars Eller or Noel Acciari, or swallow a chunk of salary to move Hayes, the team would have more than enough cap space to further capitalize on the saga by acquiring more picks from Edmonton AND more picks in the trade they make.
Perhaps there isn’t much of a market for Acciari after a quiet 2023-24 season, but surely an NHL GM will remember his gritty potential on the wing?
It’s probably doable and would fit with Dubas’s offseason scavenger hunt for draft picks of all years and rounds.
The Penguins helped start this drama, and perhaps they can end it, too. Edmonton’s deadline is Tuesday, and the clock is ticking.
