Deadline Day: Ex-Penguins on the Move

The NHL trade deadline has arrived. We’ll see if Penguins POHO/GM Kyle Dubas has any more deals up his sleeve.

With first-round picks being tossed around like penny candy in a convenience store owned by Jim Rutherford, will another team make Dubas an offer for scoring ace Rickard Rakell that he just can’t refuse? How about Erik Karlsson? Might Steve Yzerman in Detroit make a late-breaking pitch for the quicksilver defenseman?

Could UFAs-to-be Anthony Beauvillier and Matt Grzelcyk be on the move? Could (or should) freshly acquired backline thumper Luke Schenn be flipped?

Your guess is as good, if not a whole lot better, than mine.

Ex-Pens on the Move

Two former Pens changed addresses yesterday. The Rangers dealt right wing Reilly Smith back to his beloved Golden Knights for forward Brendan Brisson and a third-round pick in the 2025 Entry Draft. A deal, if I’m not mistaken, that was once suggested for our Pens.

And Tom Fitzgerald and the Devils acquired old friend Brian Dumoulin from the Ducks for forward Herman Munster…er Traff…and a second-round pick in the upcoming draft.

Remember when we (or at least, I) thought Ryan Graves would be an upgrade over Dumo?

Dumb Deal?

At least one veteran hockey insider didn’t think too much of Wednesday’s swap with the Preds.

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff absolutely trashed the trade, stating, “On the surface, this is arguably the dumbest hockey trade that’s been executed in the last 25 years. These two teams that are so far out of it shouldn’t even be allowed to call each other when it comes to this trade deadline. I’m not even kidding.”

Ouch.

Seravalli goes on to say, “On the surface, you go ‘What are they doing?’ These are not needle-movers for either of those teams, there’s salary being moved, there’s term, there’s families being uprooted five weeks before the end of the season for two non-playoff teams…”

I don’t necessarily agree. Novak has some promise and Schenn, if he stays, adds desperately needed toughness and tensile strength to a defense sorely lacking in both.

Still, it doesn’t help the organization’s sinking standing among folks in the know or Dubas’s flagging reputation to be taken to task in such a way.

Goin’ to WAR

A glance at the JFresh WAR charts for Novak and Schenn tells a tale of two players. While the former is an analytics darling, the latter is…well…

As the old saying goes, a picture’s worth a thousand words. Or in Schenn’s case, read ’em and weep.

Rick Buker

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the Other Rick says:

March 7, 2025 at 10:55 am

Rick, I have to agree with Seravalli, “On the surface, you go ‘What are they doing?’ These are not needle-movers for either of those teams, there’s salary being moved, there’s term, there’s families being uprooted five weeks before the end of the season for two non-playoff teams…”

Even Novak is exiting his prime and has been at best a hair above average (20 Gs, 48pts per 82 games) throughout his prime. If he was a generational talent or an elite player through his prime then you could expect him to continue to rack up numbers for a couple more seasons, but he is not. I would expect his stats (not his overall contribution) to be like Zucker's was here in Pgh; maybe 6 or so Gs and 12 or so Pnts at the end of this season. He will average out to about 10 Gs and about 15 As if plays about 82 Games. The big difference will be he will bring far less grit and intangibles than Zucker did.

Maybe he will be able to get back up around that 20 G and 40 Pnt the final year of his contract like Zucker, but who will care at that point.

Bottom line is the deal was smoke and mirrors to fool fans into thinking that the team is still a contender, or trying to be one.