Penguins Acquire Patrick Marleau from San Jose

The Penguins have acquired veteran forward Patrick Marleau from the San Jose Sharks for a conditional third-round pick in the 2021 Entry Draft. The pick will convert to a second-round pick in 2022 if the Pens win the Stanley Cup this season.

A 22-year NHL vet, Marleau stands 6’2” and weighs 218 pounds. An excellent skater for a player his size, the 40-year-old’s tallied 561 goals and 1186 points in 1715 NHL contests. This season he has 10 goals and 20 points in 58 games with the Sharks.

He can play left wing or center and has a career face-off percentage of 51.4 dating back to 2007-08. Although his possession numbers have declined in recent seasons, his Corsi’s a highly respectable 52.2 for his career.

“Patrick is a player who can play anywhere in our lineup,” said GM Jim Rutherford when announcing the trade. “He’s a good two-way player, provides leadership and will be a good fit with our team.”

In a minor transaction, Anaheim claimed forward Andrew Agozzino on waivers.

UPDATE

The Penguins have acquired forwards Conor Sheary and Evan Rodrigues from Buffalo for forward Dominik Kahun. A head-scratcher if there ever was one.

Personally, I thought Kahun did a really nice job for us (10 goals and 27 points in 50 games) following a slow start. He was fast, versatile, creative and very involved at both ends of the ice. Affordable, too, at $925,000. I truly don’t know why he was deemed expendable.

I don’t dislike Sheary. The speedy former Pen scored 41 goals for us over a two-season span, and he does a nice job of finding the seams. He just doesn’t finish as well as I’d like given the chances he generates. Tends to disappear in the playoffs, too.

With the Caps muscling up at the trade deadline, the last thing we needed was to get smaller.

I know next to nothing about Rodrigues, an undersized (there’s that word again) 26-year-old who can play all three forward positions. He’s a right-handed shot and perhaps that influenced the trade.

As a general rule, the team that gets the best player wins the deal. Well, in my eyes, Buffalo got the best player in the exchange.

Hope Sheary and Rodrigues prove me wrong.