PITTSBURGH — With his franchise off to one of its worst starts in two decades, Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations/general manager Kyle Dubas attempted to shake things up late Tuesday. He traded forward Lars Eller to the Washington Capitals for two draft picks.
The Penguins will receive the Capitals’ fifth-round pick in 2025 and third-round pick in 2027. The third-round pick formerly belonged to the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Penguins have acquired a 2027 third-round draft pick and a 2025 fifth-round draft pick (originally belonging to Chicago) from the Washington Capitals in exchange for forward Lars Eller.
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The move could be viewed any number of ways, but the return is consistent with other trades made by Dubas since he dealt top-line winger Jake Guentzel at the deadline last season. Since then, Dubas has acquired so-called futures (prospects or draft picks) the Penguins have lacked since their last Stanley Cup playoffs series win in 2018.
One of multiple prospects acquired for Guentzel, Vasily Ponomarev, has played four games for AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton since returning from an injury. He is a natural center and did not look out of place when playing with veterans in training camp. Ponomarev is far from a finished product, but he plays with an edge and is a solid skater — elements the Penguins could use in all areas, especially among their bottom-six forwards.
There are other options if Ponomarev is not the prospect to fill Eller’s vacancy, especially if the Penguins aren’t limiting themselves to a center, of which they have many on the current roster. Sam Poulin, recalled on Monday but who did not play in a loss to the Dallas Stars, could play that role — perhaps on the fourth line if veteran Blake Lizotte moves into Eller’s vacated slot. If and when an injured Kevin Hayes returns, he could play center and the Penguins would be able to pick from any number of prospects performing well in the AHL.
Ville Koivunen and Tristan Broz are logical candidates. Each, like Ponomarev, would infuse some youth into one of the NHL’s oldest forward groups.
There are options to replace Eller, who seemed like he wasn’t long for Pittsburgh after Dubas brought in several similar veterans in offseason trades and signings.
The Penguins did not trade Eller at the deadline last season, which was a modest surprise in NHL circles, as he is a veteran who plays a two-way game and has won the Cup. He had one year remaining on his contract at the time, perhaps a hang-up for teams dealing in a flat-cap league.
But with the cap’s significant increase this season, it was theorized around the league that contenders would have more interest in renting Eller. That it was the Capitals, with whom he won the Cup in 2018, who did the renting perhaps speaks to their comfort in adding him to a team that surprised most by returning to the playoffs last season and is off to one of the league’s hottest starts.
Eller’s cap hit is $2.45 million. By trading him now, the Penguins will add around $2 million in real cap space for the remainder of the season, as calculated by PuckPedia. The Penguins are retaining salary on two players they traded (Jeff Petry, Reilly Smith) for this season. They also have cap space devoted to Jack Johnson’s buyout this season and next.
The NHL permits clubs to retain the salary of only three players at any one time, but Johnson’s buyout is not considered officially as “retained salary.” The Penguins could use space freed by trading Eller to eat a portion of cap space to entice a better return on a trade of a future player.
Landing the draft picks for Eller might be the big score for Dubas. He has not publicly committed to a “rebuild,” but even with the Penguins (6-9-2, 14 points) beginning Tuesday only a point out of the second wild-card slot in the Eastern Conference, their underlying metrics do not paint a pretty picture. Their minus-21 goal differential is tied for the worst in the league, and they are 1-9-2 in games against opponents with a points percentage at or above .500. They have been outscored 56-24 in those games.
Dubas said before the season he thought it was possible to build a playoff contender around an aging core co-led by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, while also preparing for a future potentially bolstered by current and incoming prospects. Rutger McGroarty instantly became the Penguins’ top prospect when he was acquired from the Winnipeg Jets this past summer, and he began the season in the NHL before he was sent to the AHL.
With the assets added for Eller, the Penguins have 10 selections in the 2025 and 2027 NHL Drafts and nine in 2026. As of now, they have three first- and four second-round picks over the next three years.
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