In a one-for-one swap of 26-year-old depth players, the Penguins have traded defenseman Jack St. Ivany to the Jets for center David Gustafsson.
At first blush and in a vacuum, I don’t care for the deal. While admittedly no all-star, St. Ivany had established himself as a more-than-serviceable fill-in on the starboard side of our defense.
Standing 6’4” and weighing 197 pounds, the former fourth-round pick of the Flyers also provided size and a willingness to use it, as his 116 hits in 53 games will attest. His boxcars (no goals, nine assists) were modest, as were his underlying stats, reinforcing his no-frills style.
Availability was an issue, as the rangy blueliner was often injured.
Still, I liked him as a depth guy.
As for Gustafsson?
I profess to know little about the newcomer, other than what I was able to glean from a quick glance at his boxcars on HockeyDB and metrics on Natural Stat Trick. It was immediately evident that goals are a rare occurrence for the Tingsryd, Sweden, native at the NHL level. Only six in 149 games with the Jets spread over six seasons. Ditto offense in general (20 career big-league points).
His metrics were meh until 2024-25, when they were actually quite impressive. Which also happens to be the last time he appeared in a game with the Jets. Last season he skated exclusively for the AHL Manitoba Moose, tallying an okay 10 goals and 32 points in 48 games.
As for other details, Gustafsson’s 6’2” and 196 pounds, shoots left and is a former second-round pick of the Jets (2018). Decent on draws, with a career win rate of 51.2 percent.
It was suggested on another Pens site that he’s probably being viewed as a replacement for Joona Koppanen, who’s returning to Europe. That makes sense.
A slightly separate issue, but one that’s beginning to concern me. With the trade of St. Ivany, and the likely departures of fellow blueliner Connor Clifton, behemoth Anthony Mantha and scrappy Noel Acciari, the Pens are divesting themselves of some physicality. To my eye, we had just the right blend of elements last season, including guys who would stick their noses in and even initiate the rough stuff.
IMHO, we’re going to be down a quart in the toughness department.
I’m not anxious for a return of the limp bizkit Pens of the late Mike Sullivan era.
Pens Qualify Seven
Two days before the start of free agency, POHO/GM Kyle Dubas took care of some business by extending qualifying offers to seven in-house RFAs, including recent acquisitions Gustafsson and Hendrix Lapierre.
The five others included forwards Egor Chinakhov and Ville Koivunen, defenseman Alex Alexeyev and goalies Arturs Šilovs and Joel Blomqvist.
The question I always ask is does the move make the team better? I ask this question after any trade, any draft, or any FA signing. If the answer is no, then there was never any point to the action or transaction.
My first thought is, “is St. Ivany irreplaceable?” That answer is no; he most certainly is not irreplaceable. The kid isn’t horrible; there are positives in his game, as you have noted, and he is only 26. On the other hand, he could be a roadblock to other developing, younger prospects who may have a higher ceiling. Brunicke isn’t the only RHD prospect in the organization. Harding gave a good account of himself last season and to a lesser extent, so did Pietila. Kettles was injured for all but a couple of games last year but was a 2nd-round draft pick with pretty good pedigree.
Even though I don’t think St. Ivany was irreplaceable, it would be idiotic to trade him without getting value in return. He is only 26 and just now entering his prime as a defenseman.
That goes to the next part of the equation, does Gustafsson represent value for St. Ivany. Koppanen may be returning to Europe, but does WBS really need him? The parent club certainly doesn’t. With the trade for Lapierre adding to real prospects like Broz, Hayes, Ilyin, Zonnon, and Howe who all seem to have higher ceilings than Koppanen or Gustafsson, it certainly doesn’t look the team got any value in return – Gustafsson isn’t needed. At 26 Yrs old, he is as old as St. Ivany, but as a 26-year-old forward Gustafsson is near the end of his prime whereas St. Ivany, as a defenseman is just entering his prime.
This stinks of being nothing more than an exercise.
Hey Other Rick,
Excellent analysis and I totally agree with your logic. You certainly make a good point about younger ‘d’ like Harding and Pietila. Perhaps they wanted to give them more of an opportunity.
On the flip side of the coin, I think Dubas & Co. valued Koppanen a lot more than you or I might, kind of seeing him as a veteran anchor for the kids at Wilkes. My guess is they got Gustafsson to fill the same role.
Still, I don’t especially like the deal. To my eye, we’re paper thin defensively and injuries happen, which means you could easily need a dozen d-men who can handle NHL duty on some level. Last season we had 15 defensemen suit up for at least 1 game.
Perhaps Dubas has a move or two up his sleeve we aren’t privy to. But for now, our lack of depth on defense scares me.
Rick
Rick,
Agreed, defense is where this team is thinnest, particularly LHD. That is why I am still angry over passing on Aitcheson last draft and Nikita Shcherbakov this draft.. So trading away any defenseman, even a RHD doesn’t seem to make sense.
Perhaps Dubas does have a move up his sleeve, anything is possible and the team certainly needs needs him to have a rabbit in his hat. However, I could see that as hard and heavy as the rumor mill would have us believe that he was going after Robertson, perhaps he doesn’t. The flip side of the coin maybe that he was so fixated on Robertson that he never developed a plan B. He may never have conceived that it wouldn’t happen and still may want to pursue that dream.
In fact, the rumored pursuit of Robertson and or Mathews is the final straw to me losing faith in Dubas. As Dubas’ tenure goes on, the more I see our Penguins turning into the Dubas – Leafs with Robertson or Mathews becoming the Penguins version of John Tavares – a really good player but at best first round exits because we have no Defense and use the wrong Goalies.