Kyle Dubas often talks about urgency and wanting to push the Penguins towards being as strong as they can be now and in the future. Somehow wrangling three-time 40+ goal scorer Jason Robertson out of Dallas would be the biggest and best move Dubas could make, provided he could pull it off.
Any tidbit is nice enough this time of year, and which team wouldn’t be at least somewhat ‘interested’ in a player the caliber of Robertson? To a degree that should apply to just about any and everyone.
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An item that gives pause is think about the amount of reported interest that the Penguins had in any of the following names prior to their trade acquisition: Egor Chinakhov, Sam Girard, Connor Dewar, Stuart Skinner, Elmer Soderblom, Arturs Silovs, heck even yesterday’s pick up of Hendrix Lapierre. The answer is zero, almost every trade the Pens have made recently has come with little early forewarning or a build up of expectations via reports getting out to the media. Conversely, plenty of players linked to the Penguins in the rumor mill have not ended up with completed transactions (though the protracted saga of Erik Karlsson back in 2023 is one example).
So take that’s for what it’s worth.
There’s other areas of concern about the reality of dealing for Robertson. Namely two big issues. One: does he even want to make a long-term contract in Pittsburgh? Two: what does Dallas want in a trade?
Starting with the last part first, Dallas is still in control of the situation. They apparently can’t get Robertson to agree to a contract themselves, but the Stars hold all the cards for now. What is a rival team going to do, send an offer sheet that would require four unprotected first round picks to sign him away? Not likely. First things first, if a team wants Robertson, they are going to have to give Dallas enough value to have them sign off on it, and it’s going to have to be a lot. The Stars are a club that recently gave up two first round picks and a quality youngster in Logan Stankoven to acquire Mikko Rantanen just last year, they’re well aware of the price of operating in this area. Their manager Jim Nill didn’t win the NHL’s GM of the year award three years in a row from 2022-25 due to making foolish moves.
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Second, Robertson’s signability has to be in question. The Seattle Kraken reportedly did offer the Stars enough value (believed to include the seventh overall pick in tonight’s draft) but Robertson turned down the Kraken’s contract offer of approximately $15 million over eight years. Saying no to about $120 million makes a major statement – at that point this isn’t a money motivated case and his next spot will have to do with career aspirations. Whether or not Robertson thinks he could accomplish those goals with the Pens and an almost 39-year old Sidney Crosby is questionable at best. There’s a reason why every big player is open to going to the same teams like Florida and Vegas, and it’s not all because of nice weather, low taxes and being left alone by fans/media — can’t remember too many players that wanted to be traded to the Panthers 10 or 15 years ago when all the other factors were still the same besides their on-ice irrelevance. Players today, more than ever, are tending to angle themselves towards joining a team where they think they have a very good chance to win the next Stanley Cup. That isn’t seen as Seattle, and Pittsburgh is a lot more Seattle than they are Vegas/Florida.
So, all that to say, Robertson to the Penguins is a fun dream but doesn’t line up to make a lot of sense. The Pens probably aren’t moving the needle that much by offering, say, Rickard Rakell, the 22nd pick tonight, a first round pick in 2027 and other modest chips like second round picks and B-level prospects. Robertson rebuking Seattle’s massive contract shows it’ll be an uphill climb to earn his signature for a franchise with a mid-level outlook for championship contention in the short-term. Most names that get tied to Pittsburgh these days end up being rumors that fall short of the finish line, and the moves that do get made have tended to come out of nowhere with no warning or lead up.
Add it all up and while it wouldn’t hurt to make the attempt (or hope one is made), it’s probably not something that will end up happening for a myriad of reasons. It doesn’t hurt to try but file this one as very skeptical at best.
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