Jim Rutherford just upgraded the Pittsburgh Penguins bottom-six

By trading Derick Brassard and Riley Sheahan to the Florida Panthers, the Pittsburgh Penguins improved their bottom six forwards.

Jim Rutherford likes to strike well in advance of the NHL Trade Deadline. This season alone, the Pittsburgh Penguins General Manager has completed six trades. Friday’s trade with the Florida Panthers is by far the most impactful.

Rutherford flipped two pending free agent centers Derick Brassard and Riley Sheahan into long-term assets in Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann. Brassard was incredibly disappointed in his 11-month Penguin tenure, while Sheahan was overpaid and a possession anchor (42% CorsiFor percentage) this season.

According to Corsica Hockey’s player rating system, both Bjugstad and McCann are an upgrade over Brassard and Sheahan respectively. The Athletic contributor Corey Sznajder does tremendous work tracking NHL micro-stats. On Twitter, Sznajder described both Bjugstad and McCann as “two high-shot volume type of players” and “he (Bjugstad) can get the puck up ice effectively and create offense.” The data supports both of these statements.

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Bjugstad is 26 years old and fresh off a career-high 49 point season in 2017-18. At 6’6”, his figure will likely remind Penguins fans of Jordan Staal. While Bjugstad is not that caliber of player, he is still an upgrade over Brassard as the Penguins third line center. He has scored at least 15 goals in 4 of his 6 NHL seasons.

In terms of even-strength shot attempts and scoring chances, the Panthers generated the majority of them with Bjugstad on the ice in four of his six NHL seasons. For his career, Bjugstad is a 50.4% possession player. As a career-third line center, that is an acceptable clip. I would like to see Mike Sullivan experiment with a third-line of Zach-Aston Reese, Bjugstad, and Dominik Simon.

McCann is an intriguing name. The Penguins will be the 2014 first round pick’s third NHL club. McCann has the most points (18) this season of the four players involved in this trade. His 14 even-strength points this season ranked seventh on the Panthers.

For his career, McCann has been a slightly below-average in terms of controlling territory and generating scoring chances but his numbers are still much better than Brassard and Sheahan have been this season. At just 22 years old, McCann has plenty of time to reach his untapped potential.

Matt Cullen, Garrett Wilson, and Chad Ruhwedel are now the Penguins only pending unrestricted free agents this summer. Jim Rutherford should have plenty of spare time to spend at PF Changs this summer.

Ultimately this trade boils down to the Penguins turning their biggest flaw (third-line center) into a long-term solution in Bjugstad. At the same time, Pittsburgh just got much younger, faster, and more productive in their bottom-six.

Thanks for reading!