Penguins/NHL
Penguins Trade Deadline Breakdown
[Letang out a while?]
[Penguins leave open door for big move this summer]
[The Fleury Narrative]
[Scouts Buzz on Streit]
Penguins accomplish goal of moving Fehr’s salary
Trade Analysis: The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired defenseman Frank Corrado from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Eric Fehr, Steve Oleksy and a 2017 fourth-round draft pick.
Grade: C+
The Penguins and Leafs had discussions for weeks about Fehr but the acquisition of Brian Boyle appeared to likely close the door on that scenario.
So much so, the Penguins decided to play Fehr last night instead of protecting the asset.
For the Penguins, though, the possibility to trade Fehr to Toronto surfaced again in the final 90 minutes of the deadline when the Leafs circled back to the Penguins after Fehr cleared waivers.
The Penguins accomplished the primary goal of being able to move Fehr’s salary off the books for next season while also giving them cap space to add elsewhere as moving Fehr helped take on 43.5% of Streit’s salary.
Even with Bryan Rust a ways away towards returning, the Penguins were also comfortable in moving on from Fehr because of their organizational depth at the forward position for this season with the likes of Carter Rowney, Josh Archibald, Oskar Sundqvist all being viable players who can fill a 4th line role this season if needed (Rowney will be in lineup tonight) and beyond this season where the Penguins have potentially a few more close to NHL ready players in Dominik Simon, Teddy Blueger and the organization see’s upside in Thomas DiPauli as a 4th line player at the next level in time.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys knocking on the door who have an opportunity to move into that position,” Mike Sullivan said of filling Fehr’s spot on the depth chart.
What I liked about this deal was the Penguins adding some AHL depth in defenseman Frank Corrado who’s still young enough at age 23 where he could be coached up a bit.
The talk immediately after the acquisition from some of the local media is that adding Corrado is similar to the Justin Schultz acquisition last spring. That is crazy talk to be honest.
Corrado has some good puck moving skills but is a Chad Ruhwedel type. A good AHL player with some skill, see’s the ice well who can hold his own for a couple NHL games. He’s an AHL/NHL tweener.
How much can Streit help?
Trade Analysis: The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Mark Streit from Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for a 2018 4th round pick
Grade: B-
The Penguins acquired Streit from the Tampa Bay Lightning less than an hour after the Lightning acquired Streit from the Flyers.
At age 39, Streit’s numbers have declined since his 52 point out-put in 2014-2015 and there’s obvious questions what Streit can bring to the table down the stretch as the season wears on but there’s also some intrigue here.
The hockey IQ and puck moving ability is the same as three-to-four years ago.
The Streit acquisition is not a game changer by any means but one scout I spoke with loved the move for the Penguins.
“Fantastic addition,” an Eastern Conference scout said. “The way Pittsburgh’s forwards get up the ice, it’s a nice fit for how well Streit [still] exits the zone [hide].”
Another scout I heard from felt Dave Hakstol’s system also hindered what Streit does so well in getting the puck up to forwards who are trying to attack off the rush.
While Buffalo’s Dmitry Kulikov who didn’t move, was the Penguins top target today, Streit was on the Penguins short-list throughout the last week.
“He was on our shortlist of defensemen we wanted to acquire,” Rutherford told reporters this evening.
MORE BUZZ
— NHL sources say one reason the Penguins took a good run at Kevin Shattenkirk Monday is Pittsburgh has some concern Kris Letang’s injury is one that could not only be more than day-to-day but type of injury that could nag him the rest of the season. That’s why the Penguins were determined to get another established NHL defenseman.
— As reported here this morning, the Penguins were one of six teams that Shane Doan would waive his no trade clause to. Arizona approached Pittsburgh if there was interest and the conversation ended there. One forward the Penguins kicked tires on was Radim Vrbata but Arizona would only move him for a second round pick or a combination of a 3rd round pick and prospect.
— The Penguins have not received one offer for Marc Andre Fleury this season. That is alarming. It’s the Penguins job to do PR spin that they didn’t want to move Fleury but the facts are they tried.
Not moving Fleury and getting that situation resolved is a negative for the Penguins.
There’s concern in the organization that the market could be exactly the same in June.
The Penguins were baffled by the lack of interest. [/hide]
