Penguins President Kyle Dubas reportedly working towards a significant trade

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Mike Armenti
July 20, 2023 (10:17)

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Kyle Dubas' tenure as GM of the Leafs didn't necessarily go as planned. He mae some bold moves over the years, including trading Nazem Kadri to the Colorado Avalanche and his deal to bring over Ryan O'Reilly at last year's deadline, but none of these moves seemed to pay off. While he took some big swings in Toronto, if he pulls off what he's trying to do now in Pittsburgh, it will likely be the biggest swing of his career to date.

Per multiple reports from Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman in recent weeks, the Pens appear to be a finalist in the Karlsson sweepstakes - the other being Carolina. On Wednesday, during an appearance on NHL Network, Friedman revealed that the two horse race seems to be going back and forth between the two Metropolitan Division teams. According to Friedman's report last night, Carolina seems to have a deal in mind that the San Jose Sharks aren't quite comfortable with, which might make the Dubas' Penguins the favourite to land Karlsson at this point.

"At times I've had people tell me they think it's more likely that Carolina's going to be destination at other times, including the one most recently, I've had people say to me, no, they kind of think it's tipping a little bit towards Pittsburgh.

That's the thing about the danger about reporting this, that it seems to change from time-to-time...I think Carolina has got a number in mind, at this point in time, I don't think San Jose is going to get to, so we'll see what Pittsburgh can do." - Friedman on the Karlsson situation

Sharks GM Mike Grier has already publicly stated that he has no intention of retaining 50% on Karlsson. The most recent report on a retention number that Grier is comfortable with is closer to the 20% mark.

Karlsson carries an $11.5M cap hit, which has been problematic for a number of interested teams. The key issue the Pens have here is that they're limited in terms of opening up cap space because of the number of no-move and no-trade clauses currently on the roster. Having to contend with those clauses is not making life easy for Dubas with a trade of this magnitude in his sights.

Obviously, there's still a lot of summer left to work with. The Pens do have some options available to them, as Mikael Granlund is a player who carries a lofty $5M salary and no protection against a trade in his contract. I'd imagine he'll be a key piece in all of this, whether it's sending him back to San Jose as a balancing piece or moving him to another club with a sweetener to open up space. We'll have to wait and see how this all plays out.