the deal was centered around depth forward Rem Pitlick. The Penguins acquired Pitlick from the Blackhawks back in January in exchange for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2026 draft. Its not a blockbuster trade by any means, but NHL general managers are always trying to squeeze value out of every deal.
That being said, the condition in this case was that if Pitlick played in less than 30 games with the Blackhawks this year, the team would keep the pick. As the forward got into just nine games, that condition clearly was not met. Therefor, the Blackhawks will retain their pick in the 2026 draft. The essentially got nine games out of Pitlick for free.
