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Two teams who have been busy in the trade market face off on Friday night when the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights face the last-place team from the Metropolitan Division, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in Las Vegas.

Vegas, which holds a six-point lead over the Edmonton Oilers, brings a three-game winning streak into the contest following a 5-2 victory over Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday, giving the Golden Knights six wins in seven games.

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, has lost three in a row following a 4-1 defeat at Colorado in the first of a three-game road trip. Overall, the Penguins have dropped eight of their past 10 games (2-6-2).

Both teams have been active in the trade market approaching Friday’s trade deadline.

The Golden Knights on Thursday acquired one of their original “misfits” from the 2017 NHL expansion draft. Vegas got winger Reilly Smith from the New York Rangers for their 2020 first-round pick, forward Brendan Brisson, and San Jose’s third-round draft pick in this year’s draft.

Smith was traded to Pittsburgh the summer after helping lead the Golden Knights to the 2023 Stanley Cup. He ranks fifth all-time in Vegas franchise history in points (286) and games played (399). He also has 26 goals and 53 assists in 106 career postseason games for three franchise.

“I think it will be a good addition for us,” Cassidy said following practice on Thursday. “He’s a veteran guy. He knows how we play, knows the room, knows the expectations, comfortable here in every aspect I would think. Has been to two (Stanley Cup Finals with Vegas), won one. … Playoff time, there’s a lot of value in guys who have been there and done it. I’m glad. It’s a good add.”

Cassidy, who said he wasn’t sure if Smith would be available to play Friday, said there’s a good chance he could be eventually be reunited on a line with William Karlsson.

Karlsson has resumed skating after suffering a lower-body injury in late January and is expected to return to the lineup soon.

“I can’t tell you the exact date when (Karlsson) is coming back in the lineup but, when they’re both healthy, it would make sense to at least revisit that and see what that looks like,” Cassidy said.

The Penguins have also been busy in the trade market, acquiring veteran defenseman Luke Schenn and forward Tommy Novak from Nashville on Wednesday for forward Michael Bunting and a fourth-round pick in 2026, and also sending defenseman Vincent Desharnais to San Jose for a 2028 fifth-round pick.

The big question is: Will forward Rickard Rakell and defenseman Erik Karlsson also be on the move? Rakell leads the team with 29 goals, including four over the last three games.

Pending free agents Matt Grzelcyk and Anthony Beauvillier are other trade possibilities, and there is also speculation that Schenn could be flipped again before Friday’s deadline.

“This is one of the more unique markets that I’ve encountered leading up to the trade deadline,” Penguins GM Kyle Dubas said.

Pittsburgh opened its road trip with a loss in Denver to the Avalanche in a game that was much closer than the 4-1 final score indicated.

Rakell tied the game 1-1 late in the second period and Colorado’s Casey Mittelstadt scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with just 4:09 remaining in regulation.

“You hope you find a way to win it, because we did a lot of good things,” center Sidney Crosby told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette afterward. “But we didn’t, and it’s been kind of going that way since the (4 Nations) break, where we’ve put some really good games together and feel like we deserved better. But you don’t get participation points. You’ve got to find a way to win games.”

–Field Level Media