Penguins Shopping Multiple Core Pieces as Trade Talks Heat Up

After making the Stanley Cup Playoffs 16 years in a row, and winning three Stanley Cups along the way, the Penguins have missed the playoffs for the last three years in a row, and it looks as if that trend will be continuing for the foreseeable future.

With that, it looks like a new era of Penguins hockey is beginning, one where they finish at the bottom of the standings and draft high-end talents.

Recently, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period revealed that the Penguins are shopping four of their key veterans: Erik Karlsson, Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, and Ryan Graves.

The four players were some of Pittsburgh's best, with Rust, Rakell, and Karlsson all finishing in the top four for scoring for the Penguins behind only the ageless Sidney Crosby.

While Graves was not an offensive dynamo like the other three, he still serves a purpose as a defenseman. Having four years left on his six year deal, GM Kyle Dubas will try to move on from Graves as he would be a piece that may have to stick out an entire rebuild.

With this turn of events, it looks like nobody is safe aside from Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang: the Penguins' big three. While they are all in the twilights of their careers, it would be a shame for them to retire anywhere other than Pittsburgh and it seems like Dubas is respecting their history with the Penguins by keeping them together.