Overall, the Penguins did a good job at the trade deadline. They collected more futures and got good value for the players they moved on from. I think it was a good deadline despite Rickard Rakell and Matt Grzelcyk still being on the roster.
So I’m going to address the Rakell/Grzelcyk elephant in the room. I think with Rakell it is OK they didn’t move him right now. Personally, I would have been shopping him very aggressively given the market. I do think the Rantanen nonsense slowed up the market and didn’t leave a lot of runway, but that still shouldn’t have prevented a deal from happening. Dubas clearly had a high price and other teams didn’t meet it. The issue is I don’t think that price is going to be there in the summer, either. You’ll have a free agency class to contend with and it also assumes Rakell is going to continue to shoot 17.6% and juice his perceived value. I think this is likely the apex of Rakell’s trade value.
Here’s what Dubas had to say about it
Now I will say this, the amount of draft capital the Penguins have built up in a short period of time is pretty good. If Dubas is willing to be super aggressive with that capital and attempt to acquire RFA aged NHL players then keeping Rakell could be fine. If the team is going to sit back and use up those draft picks to make selections, then I think it was pretty misguided to hold Rakell. It sounds like Dubas is going to take a swing at things
As for Grzelcyk, I think it is a real misstep to not trade him, considering what the market was out there. The entire point of signing a veteran to a one-year deal in a year you are not competing at all is to move that player. I feel like a second round pick was the floor for Grzelcyk and who knows if he could have landed a first. It isn’t really that unreasonable. Unfortunately, the Penguins have history of hanging on to defensemen with a higher perceived value than their actual value. It happened with Brooks Orpik, then Brian Dumoulin, and now Matt Grzelcyk. So I’m not going to pretend I’m not disappointed by this. At the same time it doesn’t cancel out all the good that was done.
Anthony Beavillier for a second round pick is a great piece of business.
Flipping Luke Schenn for a 2nd and a 4th round pick is a great piece of business. Although, it took Schenn asking to be moved to a contender to save Dubas from himself on this one. I’m glad things played out this way because Schenn actually playing for the Penguins wasn’t going to accomplish anything.
Cody Glass to the Devils for a 3rd round pick is a great piece of business. I’m beginning to think Barry Trotz isn’t very good at this whole GM thing. Trotz paid the Penguins a 3rd and a 6th round pick to take on Glass this offseason. The Penguins then flip him for another 3rd. Trotz then gives Pittsburgh Tommy Novak and Schenn for an overrated Michael Bunting and the Penguins are able to flip Schenn for a 2nd and a 4th. Thank you very much, Barry.
Along with the 3rd round pick the Penguins got former 29th overall pick Chase Stillman, who hasn’t found his footing with Utica in the AHL. They also received Max Graham who is in his fifth year of junior hockey in the WHL Jonathan Gruden will be joining the Devils.
At the very end of the deadline the Penguins picked up Conor Timmins and Connor Dewar from the Maple Leafs who needed to shed some cap space in return for a late round pick. Timmins has potential as a depth defenseman. He has more of an offensive profile, which is something I like seeing
Dewar is more of an energy guy for the bottom six. He doesn’t bring much in the way of offense as he has three points in 31 games this year. It’s a whatever addition.
Overall, the Penguins are up to 18 picks in rounds 1-3 for the next three years. None of the players they traded away will be missed outside of Marcus Pettersson. They are positioned for a retool at the moment if the draft capital can be smartly used for proven commodities with team control. It will be a very interesting offseason.
Thanks for reading!
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