PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Penguins dipped their toe into the trade waters with a small move with the Columbus Blue Jackets. It's nothing to move the needle, but the Penguins added a name to their NHL roster while moving on from a struggling skater.
The Penguins acquired forward Emil Bemstrom from the Blue Jackets in exchange for Alex Nylander and a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. The conditions of that draft pick weren’t initially revealed but have since been made official.
First reported by Aaron Portzline of the Athletic, the sixth-round pick will jump to a third-round pick if Bemstrom scores six goals with the Penguins to close out the 2023-24 season.
Bemstrom will likely play in the Penguins’ bottom six, where scoring often goes to disappear. In 32 games this season, Bemstrom has five goals and six assists for 11 total points.
There has been some discourse over whether that is a good condition for the Penguins. Kyle Dubas recently said he’s trying to make the Penguins a younger team while stockpiling for the future. Losing a sixth-round pick two years from now doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.
Even if the condition is met and the pick moves to a third-rounder, it’s hard to imagine the Penguins lost too much. That draft is still two seasons away, and there would be plenty of time to recoup that asset if the team is bent out of shape about it.
It’s also just unlikely that Bemstrom will score six goals. There are 28 games left in the season, and Bemstrom is on pace to only score four more goals.
Bemstrom does have 10 goals in eight AHL games played this season, but the Penguins continue to show that minor league success doesn’t quite translate to the NHL.
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