The Athletic: Penguins Pursuing Trade For Coveted Draft Pick

Reports from the past couple of days seem to indicate that Kyle Dubas is hoping for an active night as day one of the draft takes place.

Earlier today, a report emerged saying that Dubas is hoping to make a trade tonight, potentially to move up in the draft.

Now this report is being backed up by the Athletics' Scott Wheeler, one of the more reliable and trusted sources in the league.

According to Wheeler, the Penguins are hoping to move into the top-ten of the draft.

Currently, the Penguins have both the 11th and 12th overall picks, which gives them plenty of ammo to move up if they want.

One possibility is that they could move up all the way to 2nd overall as many reports have suggested that Mike Grier and the Sharks are considering moving that pick.

That being said, Grier has been very coy about his plans coming into this draft, so perhaps that would be wishful thinking on the part of Penguins fans.

Furthermore, it could take more than the 11th and 12th overall picks to move up all the way to 2nd overall, and the Penguins don't exactly have a ton of assets the Sharks would want, i.e. young roster players and high-end prospects.

Even if the Penguins did have those assets, the asking price from Grier could very well be too high for Dubas to agree to.

Still though, there are eight other teams the Penguins could negotiate with to move up in the draft, assuming the Islanders are not going to trade the 1st overall pick.

With all of that being said, the Penguins are desperate to rebuild as fast as possible, and adding a player like Michael Misa 2nd overall would go a long way to accomplishing that goal, as he could be ready to play in the NHL as soon as next season.

Regardless of what happens, this is certainly shaping up to be an exciting first night of the draft, so be sure to tune in to see what Dubas and the rest of the league gets up to as names start coming off the board.