NHL Trade Rumors: Brock Boeser, not J.T. Miller, might be Penguins’ target

Hold onto your hats, the NHL trade deadline is officially Friday but teams are going crazy today with a myriad of transactions. The Penguins have not made any (...yet) but the smoke is turning into a fire as far as how trade talks are reportedly advancing with the Vancouver Canucks.

Earlier it seemed like J.T. Miller might have been the primary target, however, discussions on Pittsburgh’s preferred target could be taking them to a different high-priced Canuck forward.

Let’s piece together the puzzle, if we can...If we dare..

Rob Rossi wrote the following in The Athletic this afternoon in his reports of what a couple of sources gave him:

The Canucks approached Hextall about his interest in forward and Pittsburgh area-native J.T. Miller, though Hextall was not initially all that interested in doing a deal, the sources said.

A little later, Shayna Goldman added a piece that the Canucks — whose management are former Pittsburgh employees Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford — might be targeting Marcus Pettersson and/or P.O. Joseph in a potential deal.

Vancouver-based writer Patrick Johnson from The Province then positioned Brock Boeser and not J.T. Miller more towards the front.

Later, the Fourth Period’s Dave Pagnotta confirmed that and added on information that Vancouver would be retaining some of Boeser’s $6.65 million salary cap hit if a trade is struck.

As of now, however, nothing is believed to be finalized or in place.

For starters, the Pens actually have a game tonight! And they likely have to wait until tomorrow afternoon to see if Brock McGinn and/or Mark Friedman clear waivers to know exactly how much cap space they have to work with prior to culminating any major trades.

Just what the trade will be remains to be ironed out, but based on the shift in recent reporting it could be less about Miller and more about Boeser as Pittsburgh’s primary trade target.