It was a hectic trade deadline across the National Hockey League. While the Mikko Rantanen news was the biggest headline of the day, over 100 assets were moved, and $168 million worth of contracts were shuffled around in the week leading up to 3 p.m. on Friday. 

The Penguins, along with some other rebuilding teams, capitalized on one of the craziest seller’s markets we’ve seen in years. 

General manager Kyle Dubas made six trades, bringing in 10 total assets in the frenzy. 

Dubas’ first move came on Wednesday night when he traded defenseman Vincent 

Desharnais to San Jose for a fifth-round pick in 2028. Desharnais was never going to stay in Pittsburgh long term — he was acquired back on Jan. 31 in the Marcus Pettersson trade from Vancouver. 

He was a throw-in to help make the money work, and his primary function for the Penguins was to help bring in another asset either at this deadline or the next. Dubas decided it was this one. 

Later in the evening, the Penguins traded winger Michael Bunting and a 2026 fourth-round pick in exchange for center Tommy Novak and defenseman Luke Schenn, who the Predators retained 50% on. It was a trade that was completely out of left field, as Bunting is under contract for another year and wasn’t on any major trade boards. 

Novak is an interesting addition for the Penguins. After back-to-back 40-plus-point seasons for Novak, his production slowed in Nashville this season, but so did everyone’s in a nightmare season down in Tennessee. 

He’s an analytical darling, but at 27, he’s at that tricky age where it’s hard to tell whether he can fit into the team’s next contention window or not. If the answer is ultimately no, the Penguins have plenty of time to deal him again. He’s signed through the 2026-27 season at a $3.5 million cap hit. 

Novak will have a familiar face when he arrives on the team, reuniting with Philip Tomasino, who the Penguins acquired back in November via a different trade with Nashville. 

Schenn, meanwhile, had his future more up in the air after the deal. A 35-year-old defenseman, even a talented one like Schenn, does nothing to help a team like the Penguins. 

Trading him again for even further assets was always the right move, but that thought process was thrown for a loop when Dubas praised Schenn’s leadership and character and portrayed him as someone that the team wanted to “help push our program through this phase.”

Less than 48 hours later, however, Dubas reversed course and flipped Schenn to the Winnipeg Jets, receiving a 2026 second pick and a 2027 fourth round pick. Penguins reporter Josh Yohe reported that Schenn pushed for a trade. Schenn wanted to play for a contender down the stretch this season, and Dubas obliged. 

Earlier in the afternoon, Dubas traded pending UFA winger Anthony Beauvillier to Washington for their 2025 second-round pick. Including the Lars Eller deal from back in November, the Penguins have acquired three draft picks in the next three years from their divisional rivals. 

Beauvillier signed a one-year, $1.25 million deal in the offseason in a contract that was designed as one the Penguins could easily move out for an asset if they were sellers at the deadline. 

Dubas was far from done. The Penguins sent forward Cody Glass to New Jersey for a third-round pick and a swap of minor-league forwards. 

Dubas’ final deal of the day was with Toronto. The Penguins paid a 2025 fifth-round pick to acquire depth forward Connor Dewar and depth defender Conor Timmins. It’s fair to not feel great about Dubas essentially doing a favor for his ex-team, but this deal will give the Penguins bodies, something that they desperately need. 

The one surprise non-trade was defenseman Matt Grzelcyk. Signed to a one-year, $2.75 million deal by Dubas in July, Grzelcyk experienced a career year offensively, racking up 29 assists and a goal from the blue line. His status as a pending UFA had him on many trade boards, but he stayed put. 

The only other player that the Penguins could have realistically moved was Rickard Rakell. A goal away from a 30-goal campaign at the deadline, Rakell could have brought in a fortune for Pittsburgh from a contending team. 

At the end of the day, only Dubas knows exactly how high that price was — whatever it was, no team matched it. This deadline was the most advantageous market for him yet, it’s not the last chance the Penguins will have to trade him. 

Rakell is under contract for three more years at a cap hit of $5 million. Rakell’s value was never higher than it was on Friday afternoon, but with a skyrocketing salary cap, there are still plenty of teams who would love to have him come summertime. 

If there was still any doubt about the lane the Penguins have picked as an organization, this deadline solidified that. Dubas has traded a third of the team’s opening night lineup away in a matter of six months. 

Dubas maximized his return on investment from two moves he made in the offseason. Combining the price Nashville paid Pittsburgh to originally take Glass, Dubas turned a modest $1.25 million investment in Beauvillier and an ECHL forward for Glass into a second-rounder and two third-rounders. That is tidy business. 

Pittsburgh now has 30 total picks in the next three drafts — the most of any team in the NHL. That overflowing cupboard includes three first-round picks, six second-round picks and eight third-round picks. 

Some of those picks will hit. Some of them will miss. But the biggest benefit to having that many picks is flexibility. There’s no way the Penguins will use all of those picks, but Pittsburgh’s scouting staff will have the ability to take extra chances on prospects that they like, and Dubas will have extra capital to pursue other trades and aid the roster. This is exactly how you rebuild.