6 Players The Penguins Should ...

With 2025 in full swing, the Mar. 7 NHL trade deadline will be here before we know it. And it is quite an interesting trade year for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The organization is at a juncture where the future has become the priority. Penguins GM and POHO Kyle Dubas has said as much, and most of his moves within the last calendar year - which have largely been made to acquire either draft capital or players on short-term contracts who can be flipped for more assets - have corroborated that approach.

However, with the Penguins, once again, in the thick of the playoff race at the midseason mark, there will be some interesting trade storylines to follow as the deadline approaches and as the team continues to trend in one direction or the other.

Here are three players the Penguins should trade by deadline day - as well as three they shouldn't sell off.

Should: Marcus Pettersson

Marcus Pettersson is the Penguins' best and most logical trade chip at the moment, and that doesn't figure to change much. The market is in-demand for defensemen, and Pettersson figures to be one of the top d-men - if not, the top d-man - on the market.

The 28-year-old pending unrestricted free agent (UFA) is having a down year, but his top-four role as a shutdown defender should still command a pretty decent return. The Penguins should be able to get a second-rounder and a prospect, and there may even be a team willing to pony up a conditional or late first for his services if he plays well over the next month.

Regardless of what happens with the team's playoff chances down the stretch, Pettersson is someone they need to sell off to the highest bidder.

Shouldn't: Matt Grzelcyk

Now, hear this out.

The Penguins dealing Matt Grzelcyk seems like a pretty easy decision. He's having a career year offensively, he's a very good power play quarterback, and - given his five-on-five defensive struggles - his value is pretty much as high as it is going to get. He's also a pending UFA.

However, think about this for a second: The Penguins' power play is currently tied for third in the NHL at 26.3 percent. Grzelcyk has eight power play points and has been a crucial part of the success of Pittsburgh's first power play unit. He - instead of all-time great defensemen like Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang - is the one quarterbacking the first unit to success.

If the Penguins are out of the playoff race at the trade deadline, yes, there is no question that he has to go. But if they're not, it may be a bit more complicated than that. Pittsburgh probably wouldn't be losing all that much in terms of draft capital if they did decide to keep him, and he would continue providing a big boost for a power play - no less, during a stretch run at the end of the season - that is simply winning hockey games for the Penguins.

If they have any aspirations of making the playoffs, he may be a pending UFA to consider holding onto.

Should: Noel Acciari

There are certainly some other forwards on this roster - namely UFAs like Drew O'Connor, Jesse Puljujarvi, and Anthony Beauvillier, as well as pending RFA forward Cody Glass - who could also be dealt. And all of them probably should be dealt if Dubas is able to get something decent in return.

But Noel Acciari likely has more value to a contending team than many people think he does. He leads Penguins forwards in blocked shots with 50 and all Penguins skaters in hits at 86. He plays on a fourth line unit that is expected to kill penalties, have defensive zone starts, and take away tough minutes from Pittsburgh's best players, which he does admirably.

This is the exact kind of player a contending team wants on its fourth line come playoff time, when chippiness is at a maximum. Acciari has one additional year remaining on a three-year contract that pays him $2 million annually, which is a relatively low cap hit for a veteran who plays his style of game as well as he does.

Selling him off, as well as some of those other forwards, also opens up some roster space in the bottom-six for some of Pittsburgh's prospects on the brink - such as Rutger McGroarty, Tristan Broz, and Vasily Ponomarev - who would otherwise be blocked from occupying a roster spot.

If the Penguins are able to get value for Acciari, he's absolutely someone they should look to sell - especially since he does not figure to be part of their future plans.

Shouldn't: Rickard Rakell

Rakell's situation is tricky, to say the least. Aside from Sidney Crosby, he is probably the team's most valuable asset, and a trade is certainly something worth exploring.

But, that time isn't necessarily now.

This is a trade that Dubas absolutely cannot miss on. Rakell is a 30-goal sniper, has term, and still isn't over-the-hump in terms of age at 31. He has played some of the best hockey of his career in Pittsburgh, and his meager 15-goal, 37-point campaign in 2023-24 seems like an outlier - especially considering his battle with injuries throughout and his slow start last season.

He makes only $5 million, and given the contributions he provides this team - he is on pace for 37 goals and 66 points and currently has a team-leading 18 goals - that is a very workable price for a top-line winger. There aren't too many players in the league who can provide that level of production at that price tag.

With that in mind, Dubas simply can't settle for any less than a first-rounder and/or young NHL talent coming back the other way in a package. And if that kind of package isn't available at the deadline, he should wait until the summer for the opportunity to take a more calculated approach in dealing his best tradeable NHL asset remaining. Rakell isn't someone who should just be sold to the highest bidder at the deadline regardless for the best return available. He has to go out with a purpose.

And even if the Penguins are building for the future, the present has to count for a small something with Crosby still around. Rakell is a player who helps them make a playoff push this season, and because he has term, it's not as urgent a situation as a pending UFA like Jake Guentzel was last season.

Should: Alex Nedeljkovic

Nedeljkovic is in the first season of a two-year, $5 million contract, and he has proven to be very capable in a 1B/backup goaltending situation.

The Penguins have some legitimate goaltending depth in their organization - namely Joel Blomqvist, who started the 2024-25 season at the NHL level and impressed in a short sample size - and there are several NHL teams in playoff races that could use some goaltending help.

Nedeljkovic isn't the most attractive option out there in terms of sheer numbers - despite better play recently, he still owns a 3.18 goals-against average and an .889 save percentage on the season - but he is a cheap, reliable option for a team that needs a solid no. 2 option or even another reliable starting option in a short-term capacity.

He is also the easier of the two Pittsburgh goaltenders to trade at the moment, and the Penguins are at a juncture where they can afford to offload one of them in order to give the young guys like Blomqvist a real shot at the NHL level.

Shouldn't: Tristan Jarry

It's easy to argue that if a team is interested in Jarry's services, Dubas shouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger on a deal. It's doubtful that such an offer is out there, but even if it was, there are still some things to consider.

Jarry is the better of the two goaltenders on the NHL roster. That much is clear when examining workload, career numbers, defensive play in front of him, and his body of work this season since coming back from his AHL conditioning stint after a disastrous start to 2024-25. The Penguins are transitioning to the future, and while Jarry has the larger cap hit, he will also figure to become more tradeable down the line when his term starts to dwindle more.

It may not be such as bad thing to have a tandem of Blomqvist and Jarry until prospect Sergei Murashov - arguably one of the better NHL goaltending prospects - is ready for NHL action in a year or two. Blomqvist is good enough for starting minutes at the NHL level, and he would legitimately challenge Jarry for those minutes, which is something that could help motivate him - and both of them - to bring out his best.

When considering all of that, there isn't as much urgency to get a deal done with Jarry right now as there may be for a more tradeable asset like Nedeljkovic.