Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas is reportedly ready to sell. The Penguins trade chatter boiled over Friday following multiple tepid reports, preceded by Sportsnet reporter Elliotte Friedman’s detailed report on Fan 590 in Toronto on what comes next for the forlorn Penguins, who have tailspun after starting the season 2-0.

The trades could happen, “pretty quickly,” according to Friedman.

The Penguins are winless in four, have just two regulation wins in 16 games this season, and just have wins overall. Worse, the Penguins have looked lethargic and non-competitive.

“I think they could change (the roster) pretty quickly. I mean, it all depends on … a lot of those guys have no trade protection, so what are they willing to do,” Friedman said on the FAN Hockey Show. “The other thing too is Dubas has shown that he has a pretty high line. Some of the guys that he’s talked about or have been talked about, he says he won’t trade them unless he gets a certain level of return.”

You can watch part of the segment here.

Most of the Penguins’ veteran players have some level of trade protection. Evgeni Malkin must submit a three-team list that he’s willing to accept a trade to by January. Erik Karlsson has a full no-movement clause. Kris Letang has a 10-team approved list. Rickard Rakell can block trades to eight teams.

The outlier of the group is winger Bryan Rust, whose trade protection expired on July 1, 2025.

“But then again, guys like Malkin and Karlsson, they have a say, right? And they have a lot of say,” said Friedman. “And I also think that Dubas would be kind of like, ‘I’m not going to insult any of these guys. I want to know where they want to go,’ if this is happening. But there’s no question (it’s happening).”

It has been reported and tacitly confirmed by Dubas that he has kept high asking prices on players like Rakell and Rust. Friedman also confirmed that Dubas wants high draft picks or prospects who are ready to step into the lineup.

The Penguins sank in another uncompetitive loss Thursday to the Boston Bruins, 6-2 at PPG Paints Arena. They begin a three-game road trip against the LA Kings Saturday at Crypto.com Arena before playing Anaheim and San Jose as the second and third leg of the trip.