The Pittsburgh Penguins nearly traded for Minnesota Wild forward Jason Zucker during the summer of 2019. According to the latest NHL trade rumors, they have not given up on their pursuit.
Last summer, the Pittsburgh Penguins desperately tried to trade for Jason Zucker of the Minnesota Wild. The deal nearly went through, but forward Phil Kessel, who would have been sent from the Penguins to the Wild, rejected the trade. According to the latest NHL trade rumors, the Pens have not surrendered yet. They’re still very much interested in acquiring Zucker.
This report comes from Elliotte Friedman’s latest 31 Thoughts column. “Pittsburgh continues its pursuit of Jason Zucker,” wrote Friedman, via Sportsnet, “but the Wild aren’t yet ready to concede anything.” The Penguins’ interest has been confirmed by Michael Russo of The Athletic.
According to the article from Friedman, Minnesota is still weighing its options as they decide whether or not to approach the NHL trade deadline as sellers. Russo’s article backs up this theory, though he implies they’re leaning more towards being sellers.
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Last summer would have been the best time for the Wild to trade Zucker, as he now has a modified no-trade clause, which allows him to submit a 10-team no-trade list. He has to give permission to be traded to any of those 10 teams. However, the Penguins might not be on it. Or, if Zucker wants to stay in Minnesota, it wouldn’t be surprising if he included them on his list.
In his article, Russo notes the Wild might have the motivation to finally trade Zucker after three attempts to trade him have failed.
"The reality is Zucker is arguably the team’s most tradeable asset in the top-six, and if you’re going to eventually open a spot for Kirill Kaprizov next season, now may be the time to do it if the return is worth it."
Currently, the Wild have all of their top-six forwards signed for a while. Zucker makes the most sense, as they likely aren’t going to trade Eric Staal, Kevin Fiala, Mats Zuccarello, Zach Parise, or Mikko Koivu. Koivu will be a UFA at the end of this season, but he’s also the team captain. Plus, he has a no-movement clause, so unless Koivu wants to go somewhere else, he’s not going anywhere.
The Wild have been waiting for Kaprizov to make his NHL debut. They’ve been rather patient with him. Expect the Wild to stay in contact with him and see if he’d be willing to come over if there’s a spot wide open in their top-six forward group.
Meanwhile, the Penguins have the cap space to work something out – for now. Jake Guentzel‘s injury leaves the Pens with the cap space required to get Zucker. And Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford has never been shy to trade for a forward who has term left on his deal. However, it could get a bit complicated for them to keep Zucker past this season. Though it certainly wouldn’t be impossible.