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Pittsburgh Penguins' Shocking Asking Price for Rickard Rakell Trade Leaks Publicly

Originally posted on House of Hockey | By Tom Banks | Last updated Mar 13, 2025 2:22 PM ET

The Pittsburgh Penguins held onto Rickard Rakell at the deadline, and given this ridiculous asking price, it's not too hard to see why that's the case.

Over the past few weeks, the Pittsburgh Penguins did a lot of work to get future assets in return at the trade deadline, but arguably their biggest piece in Rickard Rakell was not moved, despite many expecting the team to deal him for a haul.

Now, we may know why that is the case, as Frank Seravalli has now revealed the asking price for the 31-year old forward, and it's safe to say that NHL GM's around the league would be looking for a new job if they paid this price.

According to Seravalli, Kyle Dubas was asking for the best prospect of a team calling on Rakell, as well as two first-round draft picks, which is notably the same return that the Carolina Hurricanes got for Mikko Rantanen with Logan Stankoven and two first-round draft picks.

However, at 31-years of age, Rakell isn't the player than Rantanen is, as he has tallied 60 points or more just twice in his 13 year career at the NHL level, with 60 points being his high over the past seven years.

Sure, 2024/25 has been a great year for the former first-round pick, posting 29 goals and 56 points in 66 games, so it's easy to see why the ask was high for him, but without sustained success in the NHL at an elite level, that's an absurd asking price.

With Rakell locked in for several more years, the Penguins will likely revisit trading him in the summer to get some more future assets back, but unless they lower their asking price, it's hard to see a deal getting done.

This article first appeared on House of Hockey and was syndicated with permission.

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