David Pagnotta says the Penguins are open for business, and that changes the picture for Sidney Crosby.
Pittsburgh sits 27th in the NHL at 7-10-2, and the people paid to read the market are now describing a team willing to listen on several players. For a franchise built around a 39-year-old captain, that's a loaded message.
Pagnotta said Tuesday that Blake Lizotte, Justin Brazeau, Ryan Graves and other pieces in Pittsburgh are pretty much open for business.
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None of those names is a core player. Lizotte is a 28-year-old center with five assists in 19 games. Brazeau, 28, is a 6-foot-6 right winger with one goal in five games this season.
Graves is the awkward one. He hasn't played this season and is listed on injured reserve with a knee injury, expected out until at least Nov. 28, so a quick deal involving him is hard to picture.
The standings explain the posture. The Penguins have a -6 goal differential and are 3-7-1 on the road, though they did win 3-2 in a shootout at San Jose on Wednesday.
Crosby isn't hiding in the numbers either, with 13 points in 19 games and a -5 rating. He still sits at 1,774 career points, and Sidney Crosby's passing of Marcel Dionne last Saturday put him sixth on the NHL's all-time scoring list.
Does a Penguins sell-off waste a Sidney Crosby season?
It depends on what Pittsburgh does with the money and the roster spots, and so far nobody has reported a single name leaving. But a team that lists depth forwards and a injured defenseman isn't loading up for a run, and the standings say it shouldn't.
Still, that's a rough message for Crosby. His contract is set to expire at the end of this season, and Josh Yohe reported last week that the Penguins won't play hardball with Sidney Crosby on his next deal. Every year at this stage of his career matters more than the one before it.
We think the pieces on this list won't move the needle for a contender, which means Pittsburgh would be selling for futures while its best player is still producing. If the Penguins truly aren't pushing this year, Crosby's patience becomes the story, not Lizotte's trade value.
None of that is confirmed beyond Pagnotta's read of the market. Dan Muse's group faces Ottawa on Saturday, and general manager Kyle Dubas will be asked what his phone is really doing.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
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