The Pittsburgh Penguins have made another big splash near the NHL Trade deadline and have added Ottawa Senators center Derick Brassard.
Brassard to Pittsburgh for a 1st, goalie Gustavsson and other cap related elements.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) February 23, 2018
Obviously much more on this as it breaks. Brassard is a big time center and will add to the badly needed depth there since losing Nick Bonino and Matt Cullen as free agents last summer. From HockeyDB his stats are nice
Brassard (traded to Pittsburgh) is a top-line centre by most measures. Underwhelming on the powerplay, excellent shot and goal results at 5v5. pic.twitter.com/JrwzwsaxJ6
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) February 23, 2018
Basically a 2nd level producing center that the Penguins can use to make a nasty, nasty 3rd line with Phil Kessel. And most likely Jake Guentzel on the other wing. Good luck to the rest of the league to stop that line after Pittsburgh already has rolled Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin out the two shifts prior.
Best of all, Brassard is under contract for next season in 2018-19 and at a reasonable $5.0 million cap hit.
The Pens have traded away their 1st round pick again, they haven’t had a 1st matriculate since Olli Maatta in 2012. They won’t have another until at least 2019.
The first-round pick Ottawa is getting from Pittsburgh in the Brassard deal is in 2018
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) February 23, 2018
It looks like defenseman Ian Cole has been a part of the deal to help even out the money. Cole has been on the 3rd pair lately but has been rumored to be in coach Mike Sullivan’s doghouse all season. Pittsburgh still has 7 healthy defensemen and will need to play either Matt Hunwick or Chad Ruhwedel now if they don’t make any further trades.
Ian Cole to Ottawa part of deal as well. https://t.co/1BOxvKhY2d
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) February 23, 2018
Update: per stats and science, this is a very meaningful add. Dom from The Athletic boosts the Penguins chances 2.5% to win the Stanley Cup with the upgrade of Brassard. That might not seem like a lot or even be a reasonable concept to consider, but the metrics will now show the Pens as one of the top teams in the league on paper.
Brassard adds roughly 2.5% to Penguins Stanley Cup chances https://t.co/VtYmZyNB72
— dom (@domluszczyszyn) February 23, 2018