However, the source said Pittsburgh is very unlikely to part with forward Jake Guentzel and goaltender Matt Murray, too, and that signing the netminder to a contract extension is "the No. 1 thing to get done" in the offseason.
Following a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders that swept the Penguins out of the playoffs Tuesday night, Phil Kessel was asked if he expects to be dealt.
"That's a tough question to start, but I don't know at this point," the forward said, according to Rossi. "We'll see how it goes this summer. I've never worried about it. Obviously, two years in a row it didn't go the way we wanted it to. We'll see."
The Penguins explored trading Kessel last summer, and he was agreeable to playing for the Arizona Coyotes, multiple sources told Rossi.
Crosby and Malkin both have full no-trade clauses and are signed through 2024-25 and 2021-22, respectively. Guentzel inked a five-year, $30-million extension with the club in December and Murray is under contract through 2019-20.
That was a dismantling, not a playoff series. A whooping, not a battle.
An epic collapse.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, quite literally one of the greatest regular-season teams in NHL history, were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Columbus Blue Jackets. A 7-3 loss on Tuesday sealed Tampa’s fate.
Jamie Sabau / Getty Images
The Lightning looked like a shell of themselves from the second period of Game 1 until the final buzzer in Game 4, which sent Nationwide Arena into a tizzy. Tampa is the first-ever Presidents' Trophy winner to be swept in the opening round, and it lost to a team that needed 81 games to earn a playoff spot.
Let’s pour one out for the juggernaut and tip our cap to Columbus, the worthy underdog. Here are four takeaways from the upset:
Will can overpower skill
If the first week of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs has taught us one thing, it’s this: The postseason is an entirely different animal than the regular season.
Yes, the go-time switch is flipped every spring, but this year feels different. The phenomenon is more pronounced than in previous playoffs, or so it seems.
The Blue Jackets sweeping the Lightning, and the Islanders sweeping the Penguins, both count as surprises. One, of course, is infinitely more surprising than the other, but in both instances the hungrier team dominated.
Icon Sportswire / Getty Images
On paper, Tampa is a powerhouse blessed with a tantalizing mix of high-end skill and talent, as well as depth and changeability. Columbus, on paper, is a pretty damn good hockey team too but, like 30 other teams, not quite comparable to peak Tampa.
Now, as the likes of power forward Josh Anderson, burgeoning sniper Oliver Bjorkstrand, and versatile defenseman David Savard proved, hockey isn’t won on paper. All three were tremendous against the Lightning, winning puck battles, scoring goals, and shutting down some of the opposition’s best players. They outplayed Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, and Steven Stamkos.
The Blue Jackets' main bus drivers - forwards Matt Duchene, Artemi Panarin, and Cam Atkinson, defensemen Zach Werenski and Seth Jones, as well as goalie Sergei Bobrovsky - most certainly did their parts too.
Together, the John Tortorella-led group out-willed a more talented Tampa squad. Once the team gained an edge, they never let it go.
Bobrovsky’s choke job is over
Cancel the classic narrative, because Bobrovsky’s playoff demons have officially been slain.
Bobrovsky turned aside 108 of 115 shots to earn a sterling .940 save percentage in four games. In 24 previous playoff appearances, he had accrued an .891 save percentage, countless boos, and a reputation as the two-time Vezina Trophy winner with no big-game clout.
Jamie Sabau / Getty Images
Bobrovsky's five-on-five netminding was so outstanding in this series that it makes you wonder how long he can sustain such a high level of play. With Columbus' penalty kill conceding four goals, the pending UFA actually allowed on average just one even-strength marker per game despite facing 25 five-on-five shots.
At the other end of the rink, Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy wasn’t sharp (.856 save percentage) or supported well enough (faced 83 scoring chances). This early playoff exit is only partially his fault.
Jon Cooper never loses his cool
Lightning coach Jon Cooper is by nature a calm individual. He always appears to be in control of his emotions and prefers to take a glass-half-full approach to life. It’s what makes him who he is.
So maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that the first sign of life from Cooper - at least publicly - came Tuesday after he won an offside challenge and was caught by TV cameras trying to charge up the bench?
Jamie Sabau / Getty Images
Still, it was a little odd that Cooper didn’t go off on a tirade behind the bench or deliver a soundbite through the media in the five days between the club’s worrisome series-opening loss and that series-closing challenge. It was low-hanging fruit.
Perhaps, though, Cooper didn’t want to break the mold, no matter what transpired.
These Lightning were so incredibly steady all year. They made winning 62 games, and never losing more than two in a row, look surgical. Cooper was a gigantic part of their season-long success and is in contention for coach of the year honors. Why change now, right?
Clearly, the guy knows what he’s doing. And he did encounter a number of injuries and a suspension to Kucherov, his best player. He had built-in excuses.
Yet, in a weird, lingering way, Cooper’s calmness projected a strange vibe.
These Blue Jackets might do more damage
Looking ahead, what’s the ceiling for the Blue Jackets?
It’s fair to recalibrate our expectations for this Eastern Conference wild-card team, seeing as it just walked all over everybody’s unanimous Stanley Cup pick and should have plenty of time to rest. Its second-round opponent will be the winner of the Maple Leafs-Bruins series, which may go seven games.
What's more, the Blue Jackets' previously woeful power play - somehow, with that personnel, it ranked 28th in the NHL during the regular season - is really clicking. Relying on five different scorers, Columbus rectified the situation against Tampa, bagging five tallies on just 10 opportunities.
Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
Duchene, picked up from the Ottawa Senators in late February, collected four goals and three assists in the opening round and looks every bit the player Columbus hoped it had acquired. His presence adds another dynamic up front.
The stock of this group, as a whole, is sky-high right now. The Blue Jackets just won the first playoff round in franchise history against an all-time squad. They are dialed in and playing a brand of hockey that can upend just about any team in the East.
The best part? Whatever's next is gravy.
John Matisz is theScore's National Hockey Writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn.
It turns out the Tampa Bay Lightning's historic regular season was all for naught.
The Bolts were in first place for virtually the entire 2018-19 campaign, and cruised to the Presidents' Trophy thanks to a dominant 128-point output. Appropriately, Tampa was labeled favorite to roll over the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round and march to the Stanley Cup, but head coach Jon Cooper believes a lack of important games down the stretch did his club in through their stunning first-round sweep.
"When you have the amount of points we had, it's a blessing and a curse in away, because you don't play, really, any meaningful hockey for a long time and all of the sudden you have to amp it up," Cooper said postgame, according to Sportsnet. "It's not an excuse, it's reality."
Tuesday's defeat marks the latest playoff heartbreak for the Lightning, who had lost in the Stanley Cup Final and two Eastern Conference Finals since 2015 before this year's unfathomable exit.
"We just couldn't find our game, that was it," Cooper said. "It had been with us all year, and for six days in April, we couldn't find it. It's unfortunate because it puts a blemish on what was one hell of a regular season."
The Lightning didn't lose three consecutive games once during the regular season. Dating back to 2018's Eastern Conference Final, they have now lost six straight playoff contests.
The Columbus Blue Jackets completed a stunning four-game, first-round sweep over the historically dominant Tampa Bay Lightning in front of a raucous home crowd on Tuesday night.
While those inside Nationwide Arena reacted with hugs and cheers, many onlookers chimed in on social media to offer their takes on perhaps the biggest postseason upset in NHL history.
Many simply expressed their disbelief:
STUNNED!!! Get the brooms out. RIP up your brackets!!! Congrats to the @BlueJacketsNHL on a MAJOR UPSET and earning the first ever playoff series win in franchise history. #Round2
The tampa bay lightning, a team who posted one of the absolute best regular season records in the modern era, got swept in a bo7 versus a team who has never won a playoff series IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE FRANCHISE (nearly two decades)
I was dead wrong about the Blue Jackets. I am stunned right now. I thought this Tampa Bay team would win the whole damn thing honestly. Good for Columbus. This is awesome.
And after Columbus went all-in at the trade deadline, many were just happy to see the Blue Jackets' efforts pay off with the franchise's first-ever playoff series win:
So the team that faced no adversity in the regular season just got SWEPT by a team who’s season was defined by it. I’m so here for it. #CBJ
Tired: trading away your first round pick to go deep in the playoffs Wired: trading away every draft pick for the next five years to upset the best team in the last decade in the playoffs
So pumped for the Blue Jackets and especially Kekalainen. Everyone thought they’d trade Panarin and/or Bobrovsky and rebuild. Instead, the dude goes all in and gets Duchene and Dzingel and just swept one of the best regular season teams of all time. Good to see that rewarded!!!
The best part about the Blue Jackets’ sweep is that maybe, just maybe, it will inspire other GMs to pull a Kekalainen and go wild at future trade deadlines.
The win marked the Islanders' first sweep since 1983 and just their second series victory over the last 25 seasons.
New York stifled the Penguins with its physical play from the start of Game 1 and received excellent goaltending from likely Vezina Trophy candidate Robin Lehner, who posted a .956 save percentage for the series.
The Islanders managed to control the middle of the ice, smothering the Penguins' attack and ultimately nullifying the impact of their star-studded forward group. Through four games, Pittsburgh's core four of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, and Jake Guentzel combined for just three goals and seven points.
"We didn't execute well and made a few more mistakes than they did. Personally, I've got to be better," Crosby said following the loss. "It's disappointing for how well we finished the year and the things we played through to get into this position."
Though Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan wasn't upset by his team's overall effort, he pinned their downfall on a failure to execute in key situations.
"When you look at the nature of the games and the way they were played, it was a whole lot closer than the optics," Sullivan said, according to wtae.com's Andrew Stockey. "Every game, for that matter, was a one-goal game ... it boils down to critical moments."
Kessel, who has 303 points over four regular seasons in Pittsburgh, has been in mentioned in previous trade speculation and was asked about his future with the club after the loss.
It's the second time the Penguins have been swept in the Crosby-Malkin era after falling to the Boston Bruins in four games in the 2013 Eastern Conference Final.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have pulled off the unthinkable, eliminating the 62-win Tampa Bay Lightning from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in a four-game, first-round sweep with a 7-3 victory Tuesday night.
It's the first series win in the history of the Blue Jackets franchise, and the first time in the modern era that a Presidents' Trophy winner has been swept in the first round, according to Sportsnet Stats.
Columbus blitzed Tampa once again to start Game 4, scoring two goals in the opening four minutes to set the tone. The Lightning clawed back to make it 3-3 in the second period, but a power-play marker from Oliver Bjorkstrand with 1:14 remaining in the middle frame put the Jackets back up for good. They added three empty-netters late in the third to seal the deal.
Tampa Bay entered the playoffs as the overwhelming favorite to win the Stanley Cup after accruing 128 regular-season points. The Blue Jackets, on the other hand, were the final team in the Eastern Conference to qualify for the postseason, sneaking in as the second wild-card seed on the second-last day of the regular season.
The Blue Jackets are the first team to advance in the 2019 playoffs and will face the winner of the Maple Leafs-Bruins series in Round 2.
Kane came to his teammate's defense Tuesday, firing back at Reaves for the Vegas Golden Knights enforcer's jokes targeting Thornton's age and subsequent waning vision.
"To chirp Jumbo's vision, a guy who has over 1,000 assists, that doesn't seem too bright," Kane said according to The Athletic's Kevin Kurz. "One of the best passers and best guys with vision on the ice to ever play the game. Just shows a lot about his hockey knowledge and hockey IQ. Clearly, it's lacking."
Thornton ranks eighth on the NHL's all-time assists list with 1,065 helpers and has put together a Hall of Fame career.
Kane and Reaves exchanged blows with two minutes to play in Game 3, a 6-3 Vegas victory. After defending his teammate, the Sharks' pesky winger turned to his own personal feud with Reaves.
"For the so-called toughest guy in the league, I don't know if he landed a punch," Kane said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Adam HIll. "At times I thought I was fighting the Muffin Man. Didn't expect that, I expected more of a battle."
Kane took a shot at Reaves' on-ice ability as well, belittling his fourth-line status.
"For a guy who plays three-and-a-half minutes a night, he sure does a lot of talking," Kane said. "I think he thinks it's the WWE. He's probably going to end up there pretty soon with the way his game looks. Another year left on his deal. I'm sure Vince McMahon will be giving him a call pretty soon."
The Golden Knights hold a 2-1 advantage in the opening-round series and will look to push the Sharks to the brink with a victory at home in Game 4 on Tuesday night.
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reportsthe deal is for five years and is worth around $25 million depending on bonuses.
McLellan began the 2018-19 season as bench boss of the Edmonton Oilers but was relieved of his duties on Nov. 20 after the team got off to a 9-10-1 record.
The 51-year-old enjoyed his greatest success in San Jose, coaching the Sharks to the playoffs in six of his seven seasons with the club, including back-to-back conference final appearances in 2010 and 2011.
McLellan has international experience on his resume as well, coaching the Canadian national team to a perfect 10-0 record and a gold medal at the 2015 World Championship.
The Kings fired John Stevens as head coach on Nov. 4 after a 4-8-1 start to the 2018-19 campaign and have had Willie Desjardins fill the role on an interim basis since.
