With few intriguing forward pieces remaining on the free agent market, many teams are turning to the RFA market and the trade market to upgrade their top-six.

For one, a lot of the Penguins’ underlying numbers in 2024-25 were respectable, especially as they related to generating offense and scoring chances. They were right around the 50 percent mark (or above) with expected goals shares, scoring chance shares and high-danger scoring chances shares, largely due to their ability to create opportunities.

Erik Karlsson was recently linked to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but now David Pagnotta has shut down any speculation surrounding the Penguins veteran blue liner.

PuckPedia indicates the Leafs have $5.33 million in cap space for this season with 23 active roster players under contract. Sachdeva cited colleague Elliotte Friedman reporting that forwards Calle Jarnkrok ($2.1 million AAV) and David Kampf ($2.4 million) are candidates to be traded out of Toronto, which would free up $4.5 million in cap space.

The Toronto Maple Leafs could part with their prized prospect to land a top-six winger to take Mitch Marner's place.

The Pittsburgh Penguins could be a team fielding plenty of phone calls from inquiring GMs in the coming days, and according to Josh Yohe of The Athletic, two of Pittsburgh's veteran forwards have been receiving significant trade interest.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are working to fill the gap created by Mitch Marner’s departure this offseason. One player that has been rumored as a potential replacement is Pittsburgh Penguins winger Bryan Rust. According to insider David Alter, Rust "perfectly fits the identity of what this Toronto Maple Leafs team wants to be."

A trade pitch has the Toronto Maple Leafs acquiring Bryan Rust from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a blockbuster to help replace Marner.