NHL Rumors: The Pittsburgh Penguins, and the St. Louis Blues

Penguins defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph available for trade

Daily Faceoff: Frank Seravalli on the Daily Faceoff Show with Tyler Yaremchuk and Mike McKenna.

Pittsburgh Penguins GM Ron Hextall has let all teams know that defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph is available for trade.

“So, when you get to this time of year, the other part is when you send out a note like that, teams are also kind of calling your bluff. Okay, P-O Joseph is available, well that must mean that you’re in a numbers crunch, and eventually if he’s the guy you’re singling out, well then you may need to put him on waivers at some point, so why would we trade for a player we could just pick up on waivers in a few days?”

Chad Ruhwedel and Mark Friedman would be two other waiver candidates for the Penguins as they are battling with Joseph.

The Blues will likely re-sign Ryan O’Reilly at some point, and some tough-to-move veterans

Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic: (mailbag) Do believe that the 31-year-old Ryan O’Reilly will re-sign with the St. Louis Blues. Can’t see the Blues going Nazem Kadri (also 31) at seven years and $49 million. A four- or five-year deal in the $5 to $6 million range makes more sense.

It won’t be easy for the Blues to make it work with $15 million in projected space and 13 players under contract.

O’Reilly last month on his contract situation: “The focus is getting ready for the season. Obviously, we’ve kind of started some dialogue and there’s just no real rush. We’ve got a long time to figure that out and I’m not worried. I don’t think Doug is worried either. It will work itself out …”

The Blues have five veteran players on long-term contracts (done to help lower the AAV) in Brayden Schenn, Torey Krug, Justin Faulk, Colton Parayko, and Jordan Binnington.

30-year-old Faulk may be the only tradable contract – five years left at a $6.5 million cap hit – but why would the Blues want to move him? Maybe someone really likes Parayko but he has eight years left.