The Washington Capitals finished first in the NHL’s Eastern Conference at the end of the 2024-25 regular season, one year after barely sneaking into the playoffs and two years since missing out altogether. Instead of undertaking a complete rebuild after their unsuccessful 2022-23 campaign, the Caps decided to implement a retool on the fly, adding more NHL-ready players than picks or prospects.
With the league soon to fully commence the 2025 offseason, the Capitals’ model is reportedly set to be emulated by several teams. Per The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, the Pittsburgh Penguins may be one of the only genuine sellers this summer.
“[The Penguins] are listening on pretty much everyone other than their legacy guys,” LeBrun writes. “Bryan Rust is the guy most teams are calling on. Rickard Rakell is also a name to monitor. It could put the Penguins in a unique position with the lack of sellers to cash in on that leverage.
The Penguins are a team in major transition, parting ways with longtime head coach Mike Sullivan after missing the playoffs for a third straight season and hiring first-time NHL bench boss Dan Muse. As LeBrun indicates, the only unavailable players on their roster this summer are likely Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang.
Rust, a former two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Penguins, is coming off a career-best season in which he recorded 65 points (31g, 34a) in 71 games. The 33-year-old winger is signed for another three seasons at a $5.125 million cap hit, and the no-movement clause in his contract expires this offseason.
Rakell, the third portion of Pittsburgh’s top line last season with Rust and Crosby, is also coming off his best individual year in the NHL. The 32-year-old Swede, who was a hot topic at the trade deadline in March, recorded 70 points (35g, 35a) in 81 games.
The former Anaheim Ducks first-round pick is also under contract for another three seasons at a $5 million cap hit. However, he holds a modified no-trade list of up to eight teams for the remaining three years of his contract.
If the Penguins were to ship out both players, they would be left with just one player, Crosby (91), who crossed the 60-point threshold last year. Pittsburgh is also expected to shop around veteran defenseman Erik Karlsson, and they have other veteran pieces, such as Ryan Graves, Noel Acciari, and Kevin Hayes, who might draw some interest.
Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas may also have an eye on the 2026 NHL Draft, where consensus number-one overall selection Gavin McKenna is lurking. McKenna posted 129 points (41g, 88a) in 56 games for the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers in his age-17 season and is seen as the likely next generational draft talent.
Dubas could hold two lottery tickets in the 2026 draft as the Penguins would own their own first-round choice and, based on the conditions of a January trade, potentially the Rangers’ first-round pick if New York chooses to keep the 12th overall selection in the 2025 draft. Subtracting NHL talent from today’s Penguins roster could allow them to sink low enough in the standings to increase their odds of obtaining McKenna.
Per PuckPedia, the Penguins have just over $24.5 million in cap space this summer. The plethora of space means the team could also take on bad contracts for other teams seeking more salary flexibility, and in return, get valuable draft compensation.
