Penguins Trade Derrick Pouliot

The Pittsburgh Penguins trimmed their roster down to their season starting size today by trading Derrick Pouliot to the Vancouver Canucks for Andrey Pedan and Vancouver’s 4th pick in next year’s 2018 Draft.

Former first round pick Pouliot came to the Penguin’s organization with a lot of promise. In his NHL debut his offensive acumen caused me to gush to several friends that I though he would become one of the best defensemen the Penguins ever drafted. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Over the years Pouliot’s stock has dropped considerably and the young D man had become a flash point of criticism for many Penguins fans.

Hopefully, for Pouliot, the change of scenery may resurrect his career. Even though he was often criticized for his lack of defensive skill, Pouliot does own a 54.7% career CORSI stat over 67 NHL games.

To make their opening day roster numbers, the Penguins will be sending Pedan to the Wilkes – Barre Scranton Penguins. He is on a two way contract.

Pedan is a 6’-5”, 215lb left handed defenseman who was born in Kaunus, Lithuania. He played his amateur hockey for the Guelph Storm of the OHL. While playing for Guelph he compiled 26 goals and added 70 assists in 174 games. He was a -19 and accumulated 386 penalty minutes. Moving up to the AHL he potted 8 goals with 21 assists, in 84 games while improving his +/- to a + 5 and amassing 171 penalty minutes. He also has played 13 games in the NHL during the 2015-2016 season, not really getting on the scoring sheet but picking up 40 hits and blocking 8 shots over those handful of games. Other stats of note; he was a -3 in his brief NHL stint and collected 18 penalty minutes; his CORSI was 45.2%.

The scouts at Hockey Future said of Pedan skates well and loves the physical play. They also seemed to be impressed with his offensive skills but said it is his physical play that draws attention to him. If this is true, then maybe Jim Rutherford pulled off another coup, but even if it isn’t, Pouliot’s career would have seemed to have stalled here in Pittsburgh.

The 4th round choice in next year’s draft would also seem to be welcome considering how few picks our Penguins have had over the years.