The Pittsburgh Penguins are on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoffs at the halfway point of the season. Even with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin still performing well, they are not a contender for the Stanley Cup. The trade deadline is two months away and they are expected to be sellers, having already traded Lars Eller. But Josh Yohe of The Athletic says do not expect the Penguins to trade Rickard Rakell.

“The idea that the Penguins are going to hold a fire sale, however, is a bit misguided,” Yohe wrote. “In the case of Rickard Rakell, it might be flat-out wrong…Dubas doesn’t feel any extreme desire to deal Rakell. I don’t think he feels pressured at all. If a team made an outrageous offer for Rakell, then sure, Dubas would be more than willing to listen.”

Rakell is in the third year of a six-year contract worth $5 million. Players with that much term usually are not traded at the deadline, but the salary cap is expected to boom this offseason. A contender could squeeze Rakell in at the deadline and his cap hit will be minuscule by July.

But the Penguins are hesitant to blow it up with future Hall-of-Famers on the roster and playing well. Should they trade Rakell this offseason? Or keep building around this core.

The Penguins must trade Rickard Rakell to get the most value

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While they do not want to trade Rakell at this trade deadline, the Penguins must trade him in the offseason. He will have three years left and should finish off an excellent season. He is already at 20 goals and 15 assists through 40 games, so a 35-goal season is not out of the question.

Adding that many goals for three years with a reasonable cap hit should be something every contender wants to do. There will be 15 teams who make the playoffs but don't win the Stanley Cup and want to add scoring. The Penguins should demand a first-round pick or a top prospect for Rakell. This would be similar to the Patrik Laine trade last summer.

The Penguins' stars have been connected to trades since the beginning of the season. Yohe has previously denied a link between Malkin and the Dallas Stars, saying they will not trade either of their Hall of Famers. But Rakell is not in that group, so trading him this offseason should be the first big move of the rebuild.