Winners of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017, the once-mighty Pittsburgh Penguins now find themselves in a prolonged rebuild just eight years later. It’s a strange position for the franchise that has won more Stanley Cups, five, than any other team since 1990.
Nonetheless, that is where the Penguins are, in all likelihood staring down their fourth straight season without playoff hockey after qualifying every year for 16 straight campaigns. As a result, without a realistic chance at a sixth Cup or even a postseason appearance, the Penguins appear to be better off acquiring future assets than keeping their veteran players in the Steel City.
Penguins Could Speed Up Rebuild Timeline
At the same time, shipping out those well-established players would allow them another chance at a Cup — depending on the teams willing to trade with the Penguins, of course. In any event, a full-fledged Stanley Cup run now appears to be several years down the road in Pittsburgh, at least.
The Penguins could accelerate that timeline by adding a new group of top prospects and draft picks to form the nucleus of a future contender, and one player who could be on the move, according to Michael DeRosa of The Hockey News, is 33-year-old right wing Bryan Rust, who has spent his entire 11-year career with the Penguins.
Pittsburgh drafted the Pontiac, Michigan, native in the third round back in 2010, but he did not make his NHL debut until December 13, 2014, in a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He scored the first of his 203 career goals in the next game, his home debut, against the Tampa Bay Lightning two days later.
Rust Sets Career Scoring Highs in 2024-2025
More than a decade later, Rust is coming off a career-high 31-goal season, and has a streak of six campaigns with at least 20 goals, making him an attractive trade target for a team looking for an offensive boost to reach the next level. The right-shot winger also set a career high with 65 points in 2024-2025.
“The Penguins could very well sell high on him if the right offer comes along,” DeRosa noted on Saturday, adding that Rust’s no-movement clause expired on July 1, allowing the Penguins to trade him at will. “His reasonable $5.125-million cap hit until the end of the 2027-28 season also undoubtedly adds to his trade value.
One such team that needs an offensive upgrade, and that must feel so close yet so far from contending for a Cup without one, would be the Los Angeles Kings.
With two Stanley Cup titles in their 57-year history, coming in 2012 and again in 2014, the Southern California franchise has found the last four seasons an exercise in frustration, losing in the first round in all four years — each time to the Edmonton Oilers.
Rust ‘Intangibles’ Raise Trade Price
Rust would not only fit in with the Kings’ style of play with his two-way ability, but he would also have been their third-leading goal-scorer and third-leading point-producer during the 2024-25 season,” wrote Adam Gretz of Bleacher Report.
According to an analysis by Pittsburgh Hockey Now, the price to acquire Rust would be “a good B+ level prospect or young player, a draft pick in the 25th to 48th range (first half of the second round), and … perhaps a depth NHL player, such as a bottom-six forward, backup goalie, or third-pair defenseman type.”
But that price is based on Rust’s “analytic” value, according to Dan Kingerski of PHN. Rust also brings “intangibles” — such as the ability to elevate Kings offense to a point that could finally get them out of the first round, Kingerski added.
That quality could drive Rust’s price up to “a guaranteed first-round pick and a young player who projects to be able to fill Rust’s role within a season or two.”
Kings 2024 first-round pick, 26th overall, Liam Greentree would fit the second bill. The 19-year-old forward could step in to an NHL spot right away, according to Kings senior director of player personnel Glen Murray, who added “I think he’s ready for that.”
Penguins Trade Pitch Sends $5.1 Million, 31-Goal Wing Out West For Asset Haul