Kyle Dubas and the Pens opens up a roster spot in a trade with the Blackhawks

With the All-Star break less than a month away and the NHL's trade deadline in approximately two-months time, teams will begin to try to do whatever they can to shed salary and provide themselves with the space they need to make the moves that they believe can help push them over the top.

In the Penguins' case here, moving Rem Pitlick to Chicago frees up some valuable space and a roster spot, presumably for Jesse Puljujarvi, who signed a PTO with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this week.

From Chicago's perspective, Pitlick provides them with another forward capable of playing in the NHL, which will be important if the injury suffered by rookie phenom Connor Bedard last night causes him to miss a significant amount of time.

For Kyle Dubas, we know how he likes to operate. Dubas prefers to get his deals done in advance of the deadline, though he did have a particularly busy deadline in Toronto last March. Still, even with his biggest acquisition, Ryan O'Reilly, Dubas had taken care of business well ahead of the deadline, swinging the O'Reilly deal in mid-February.

Pitlick has played in 32 games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this season, recording 8 goals and 24 points over that span. The 26-year-old last played in the NHL last season, spending 46 games with the Montreal Canadiens, posting 6 goals and 9 assists for a total of 15 points in a depth role.