Should the Penguins Trade Rickard Rakell?

As I highlighted earlier, if you trade Rakell now, in a year or two when you’re, hopefully, back in the playoffs, you’ll be looking for a high-scoring top 6 winger that can play with Crosby. It would be foolish to move him now.

With that being said, Rakell isn’t exactly untouchable. Kyle Dubas could indeed trade him by the deadline, or this summer, but he would need to receive an offer that is too good to pass up.

What Would It Take for Kyle Dubas to Trade Rakell?

So the question then is, what would it take for Kyle Dubas to trade Rakell? Well, given the trades we have seen in advance of the trade deadline, it appears to be a seller’s market. With the Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor package fetching a 1st round pick for the Penguins already, I would start there and go up in value.

Kyle Blikian of The Hockey News suggests that the Los Angeles Kings should send a 2025 3rd Round Pick and a 2026 1st Round Pick (Top 10 protected), in exchange for Rakell.

If I were Kyle Dubas and that offer landed on my desk, my response would be ‘nope, try again’. I would need to see a 1st, a 2nd, and a good prospect in return, at a minimum, to move Rakell.

When it comes to 2026 1st Round Picks, I would not allow anyone to make it a top 10 protected pick. I get that it’s the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes next year, but if you’re a buyer at the 2025 trade deadline, you should not be thinking you’ll be a lottery pick in 2026.

Win Now vs. Building for the Future

For Dubas though, I would acquire any and every 2026 1st Round Pick I could. I would be gathering them like those baseball card collectors clearing the shelves of every Costco. GMs might not want to give that up, but if they want to win now, they’ll have to take some chances.

The Penguins for years were in ‘win now’ mode, and they did in fact win. Was it worth it to trade 1st round picks and coveted prospects regularly? The three newest Stanley Cup banners hanging in the rafters at PPG Paints Arena would suggest that it was indeed worth it.

General Managers know this, and with 20 plus teams being in a playoff race at the trade deadline, and no real clear cut Stanley Cup favorite, a lot of those GMs can convince themselves that this is their year. If they think it’s their year, then they should give a 1st, a 2nd, and a prospect for Rickard Rakell. 

If I’m Kyle Dubas, I would think about that offer. If it were two 1st round picks and a prospect, I would hit the accept button immediately. Do you think I am crazy for suggesting Rakell’s trade value should be that high? If Mikael Granlund, who has 15 goals compared to Rakell’s 29, and journeymen defenseman Cody Ceci were able to fetch a first-round pick, then what I think Rakell is worth is not crazy.

Do I think an offer of that magnitude will be made? No, I don’t. Which brings us back to the original point. If you can’t get some unreal return for Rickard Rakell, then you don’t trade him. Otherwise, in a few years, you’ll be the buyer overpaying to ‘win now’. 

If there is any chance that the Penguins are going to win again in the Crosby era, they need a Rickard Rakell on their team when that time comes. The good news is, they already have him, and they don’t have to give up any prospects or picks to keep him.

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