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NHL Trade Grade: Pittsburgh Penguins acquire Derick Brassard in three-way deal

By Dave Stevenson

OTTAWA, ON - FEBRUARY 22: Derick Brassard #19 of the Ottawa Senators falls to the ice after getting hit by a rebound during warmups prior to a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Canadian Tire Centre on February 22, 2018 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Jana Chytilova/NHLI via Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON - FEBRUARY 22: Derick Brassard #19 of the Ottawa Senators falls to the ice after getting hit by a rebound during warmups prior to a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Canadian Tire Centre on February 22, 2018 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Jana Chytilova/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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One of the most complicated trades in recent memory saw the Pittsburgh Penguins acquire Derick Brassard from the Ottawa Senators and Vegas Golden Knights

Three-way deals are extremely fun. Fans are blessed because the NHL has seen two in one season. In November, the Ottawa Senators acquired Matt Duchene and the Nashville Predators acquired Kyle Turris, with both teams sending assets to the Colorado Avalanche. On Friday, Feb. 23, the Sens found themselves in another three-way trade. This one sent Derick Brassard to the Vegas Golden Knights, who proceeded to trade him to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The details are a bit complicated, so let’s break it down and grade how each team did in this wild three-way adventure.

Ottawa Senators

Senators gave up: Derick Brassard, Vincent Dunn, 2018 third-round pick

Senators got: Filip Gustavsson, Ian Cole, 2018 first-round pick (PIT), 2019 third-round pick (PIT)

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First things first, Cole shouldn’t really be counted because Ottawa will trade him by the trade deadline. You can consider anything they get for him as a part of the trade. Considering Nick Holden and Michal Kempny recently fetched third-round picks, that should be the rough expectation for a return for Cole.

Gustavsson is the crown jewel of this trade. Goalie prospects are hard to project, but it’s hard not to love what he’s doing. Recently, Gustavsson was named the best goaltender at the 2018 World Juniors. He has outstanding athleticism and has exceptional positioning considering his age.

Even though the first-round pick is probably going to be within the final four spots of the first-round, the 2018 draft is a pretty impressive one. You can definitely find talent down there, and for what it’s worth, the Senators have drafted relatively well in recent years.

Grade: B+. A better return for Cole could push this into the A- range. Overall though, the Senators did pretty well. Would have liked to see Ottawa get more prospects, but hard to hate what they did.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Penguins got: Brassard, Dunn, Tobias Lindberg, 2018 third-round pick

Penguins gave up: Ryan Reaves, 2018 fourth-round pick, Gustavsson, Cole, 2018-first round pick, 2019 third-round pick

The Penguins are the winners of this trade. They get the best player in the trade (Brassard) and they’re only responsible for 60 percent of the remaining salary on his deal. This deal ends after the 2018-19 season, so Brassard is more than a mere rental.

Losing Gustavsson isn’t ideal. However, the Penguins have excellent goaltending depth in their organization, so it’s not that big of a deal. Pittsburgh’s first-round pick is going to be very close to the second round, so they’re not giving up too much there either.

This trade makes the Penguins the unquestioned favorites to win the Stanley Cup. Should they win it, it will be a three-peat. The Penguins boldness here is terrific. Sure, at some point, they will have to rebuild. And most likely, it will be a painful one. But the Penguins have a wide open door to a dynasty and they decided to sprint through it. Props to them.

Grade: A+

Vegas Golden Knights

Knights got: 2018 fourth-round pick, Reaves

Knights gave up: Lindberg, $2.5 million of cap space and  (40 percent of Brassard’s remaining salary through 2018-19)

Kudos to the Golden Knights for creatively using their cap space to acquire assets. The NHL hasn’t seen a team use their cap space in such a unique way in years. It’s hard to compare how they did because of this.

With that said, I don’t get why Vegas got involved in this if this is all they got. The Golden Knights, at the end of the day, are paying about $1.6 million ($2.5 million of cap space) for a fourth-round pick and Reaves. That fourth-round pick isn’t worth that much, and neither is Reaves.

Next: Trade Deadline Tracker

It’s hard to fathom a scenario where the Golden Knights miss that $2 million of cap space next season. But still, if you’re going to go out of your way to facilitate a trade like Vegas did, you’d like to get a much better return for doing so.

Grade: C-. You don’t get points for flair in the NHL.

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