Anthony Beauvillier lived a nomadic existence throughout the 2023-24 season.
Suiting up for three teams (the Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators), he was traded on two occasions.
In each instance, he was dealt for ho-hum fifth-round draft picks.
And again, this season, he was on the move at the NHL’s trade deadline Friday.
This time, the Pittsburgh Penguins were able to fetch an intriguing second-round pick in 2025 from the Washington Capitals for the steady but hardly spectacular middle-six winger.
Such was the environment Penguins management was able to thrive in leading up to the deadline as they operated with the future in mind.
That is to say it was a seller’s market, and the Penguins sold at good rates.
In addition to Beauvillier, they traded:
• Defenseman Luke Schenn to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for a second-rounder (2026) and a fourth-rounder (2027). (The Penguins acquired Schenn from the Predators as part of a larger trade Wednesday, essentially in exchange for a fourth-rounder in 2026, before flipping him.)
• NHL forward Cody Glass and minor-league forward Jonathan Gruden to the New Jersey Devils for forward prospects Chase Stillman and Max Graham as well as a third-rounder (2027).
The only deal the Penguins were buyers in saw them add reserve forward Connor Dewar and defenseman Conor Timmins from the Maple Leafs in exchange for a fifth-rounder (2025).
All of Friday’s moves as well as Wednesday’s trade — and seemingly every other trade they’ve made in the past 12 months — have been geared toward boosting the team’s future hopes for regaining its status as a Stanley Cup contender while Sidney Crosby as well as other luminaries are still in the franchise’s employ.
And beyond.
“We’re going to survey the landscape as urgently as we can each day to find moves that can best help propel the team ahead,” Dubas said Friday in Cranberry. “If there aren’t moves available, we will execute on these picks with our personnel staff … to make sure we’re bringing the best young talent that we can. How it lines up with the older players, all I can give is my pledge that we are going through everything we can to attempt to have them all have one last chance, or multiple, depending on how long they play.
“That’s our ambition, and that’s what we’ll do.”
What Dubas did not do Friday is deal away coveted all-star winger Rickard Rakell or sturdy defenseman Matt Grzelcyk.
Given how lesser players elsewhere in the NHL were fetching first-round selections, there was thought the Penguins would (or should) offer Rakell to any suitor willing to part with high-caliber future assets.
Ditto Grzelcyk — to a lesser extent — as he is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason.
“There was lots of interest in Rickard Rakell,” Dubas said. “We just decided that, based on where we were at, his value to us, the term remaining on his contract, the way that he’s played and the player that he is, it was in the best interest of the team to have him remain.
“With regards to (Grzelcyk), there was interest, teams kicking tires, but, in the end, we got through the deadline and he remains a member of our team. We expect him to continue to have a strong season, and when we brought him in, I pledged that we would give him the opportunity to get things back rolling. He’s taken advantage of that. We’ll continue to push him to do so here through the last stretch of the year.”
The Penguins now possess an extensively bloated trove of draft picks totaling 30 over the next three drafts.
It is doubtful they will use them all, but they are valuable assets that can be dealt away for even more valuable — or immediate — assets.
“The scouting staff will prepare (for those picks) as if we have to execute all of them, and we’ve talked about that,” Dubas said. “Teams around the league know, as we get close to the draft and restricted free agency coming up, whether players are going to re-sign or not, we’ll try to be in the mix for all those young players that fit that next era of the team that can come in and help us right now.”
It remains to be seen how quickly Dubas’ plan will take effect in terms of producing appetizing results on the ice.
But the Penguins largely took advantage of a market that was congruent with their approach.
“We’ve spent the last 12 months, almost exactly, accruing assets and accruing flexibility and cap space,” Dubas said. “Now, we’ll begin to shift to the execution of that. That’ll be drafting some players using that. I don’t know it’s feasible to expect that we can use all those draft picks, to use every one of them and then expect all of them, in sequence, to become part of the club. We’ll have those assets available for trade. We have cap space available in free agency.
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“And so, we’ll shift here a little from asset collection to continuing down that path, but also looking to how we can use the assets that we’ve acquired, whether it’s cap flexibility or draft picks, to add to our group and add to our roster. It will still require patience, and it may not be as quick as some would like. And our goal, as I’ve stated here a number of times, is to return the team to contention as urgently as possible.”
Notes:
• Following all these moves, the Penguins have $15,232,187 of salary cap space according to Puckpedia. Additionally, they now have 48 NHL contracts, two short of the league limit of 50.
• Dubas indicated he did not ask any members of the roster to waive any kind of no-trade or no-movement clauses to facilitate any trades.
• That includes defenseman Erik Karlsson, who has two years remaining (beyond the current season) on his contract with a salary cap hit of $10 million.
Karlsson is the team’s leading scorer among defensemen through Thursday with 45 points (eight goals, 37 assists) in 64 games, but miscues, particularly on defense, continue to plague his game.
Dubas offered an assessment of Karlsson’s play and future.
“He’s such a talented player,” Dubas said. “I know, night-in and night-out, like our team has this year, it can be a little up and down. But his skating continues to be some of the best in the league. Obviously, offensively and the puck movement continues to be at that level. We have to keep pushing him. I think he can be a part of helping our team continue to move along. So I don’t sense with his skating and his talent and ability that there’s going to be any real dropoff.
“There was no discussion, there was nothing taken to him about waiving his (no-movement clause). And he’s not a player that we would just look to just move along. He’s a hugely valuable player in the league. I think we’ll be here, and we’ll be in the marketplace come summer or next year, depending on where we’re at.”