Rumor: The Kyle Dubas fire sale might be imminent

This tweet has been circulating and gaining a lot of traction over the last 24 hours, indicating that Penguins GM Kyle Dubas might be on the verge of a massive fire sale of team assets.

The Penguins defeated the Los Angeles Kings 5-1 on Monday night, putting them back to within four points of the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. They might not be out of it, but they're certainly not in it.

This creates a conundrum, and the timing of such a deal is what makes it so delicate.

The Penguins have approached a fork in the road, and they must choose one of two paths.

The First Path - Sell Everything Now

Unlike previous years, the Penguins have very valuable assets to send away if they so choose. Names like Rickard Rakell, Cody Glass, Anthony Beauvillier, Marcus Pettersson, and others could actually warrant a pleasing return.

The Jake Guentzel trade was the marquee of a handful of moves Dubas made last season. The only others consisted of Chad Ruhwedel being sent to the Rangers for a 2027 4th round pick and goalie Magnus Hellberg to Florida for essentially nothing.

Realistically, that was about all the Penguins could move last season. The talent pool just wasn't satisfactory enough to get decent returns.

This year, though, all the names mentioned above can realistically be sought after by playoff contending teams, and the kicker is that it's better now than never.

If Dubas wants to initiate the fire sale like he's rumored to, he has to do it now.

Rickard Rakell's value has never been higher. He's a top goal-scoring threat in the league, and it's better to move him now while his trade value is sky high.

Same thing with Glass and Beauvillier. Glass seems to be on the rise and Beauvillier is stacking up points with extended looks on the top line. The best option would be to trade them now, unless Dubas wants to take the other path.

The Second Path - Hold and Pray

The other option for Dubas is to keep the hand he's been dealt until the March 7th trade deadline.

The danger with this comes to the first path. Should the players whose values are at an all time high start to decline, the returns will not be as lucrative. Additionally, without their production, the team itself is unlikely to enjoy much success, meaning that a month from now, the Penguins may be completely out of the Wild Card race.

The advantage with this path is that you at least get to see what happens over the next month. The Penguins play a fairly easy schedule before the Four Nations Tournament. It's not out of the question that they can surge like they did after Thanksgiving.

Being only four points out makes this path even more tantalizing. Yet, at the same time, they are closer to having a lottery pick than they are to make the playoffs.

So, flip heads and let the fire sale begin. Flip tails and let the restless waiting begin.

Fleshing out what the Penguins should do is fairly impossible at this time, and we'll save that for another day. Just know that the time is ticking for Dubas to pick a path.