Penguins GM Ron Hextall reveals Trade Deadline plans

The Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves trending in the wrong direction as the National Hockey League Trade Deadline approaches, having gone 4-5-1 in their last 10 games and sliding in the Eastern Conference standings.

There are now a handful of teams directly in their rear view mirror for one of the final Wild Card postseason spots, and the pressure is building not only for the players to improve their on-ice performance, but for general manager Ron Hextall to make a move in order to further solidify the lineup as they attempt to secure their 17th straight playoff berth, the longest active streak in the League. 

So, what exactly is Hextall planning for the March 3 deadline? He recently sat down with NHL Insider Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, where he disclosed what he's thinking. 

Take a look at a few excerpts from the interview: 

• On what the Penguins will look for in the trade market: “It depends on the fit, it depends on the price. I’m not willing to give up the world for rentals. But we’re looking at everything and looking at the prices, and we’ll see what makes sense for us. Obviously there’s cap constraints so we’ve got to be creative, like a lot of teams.”
• On the current bottom-six setup: “Those pieces haven’t quite fit, so if we could adjust a little bit, we would certainly look at it.”
• Hextall added he likes the team “on paper.” “But our lack of consistency has been a little bit perplexing, for sure.”
• On the goaltender situation: “We think (Tristan Jarry’s) going to play soon here. So that would be, obviously, a big boost for our group. I think we’ve been asking a lot of Casey (DeSmith) in terms of playing game after game.”

The Penguins are back in action on Thursday night against Connor McDavid and the high flying offense of the Edmonton Oilers.