NHL Trade Grade: Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins swap forwards

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Florida Panthers are swapping struggling forwards with both teams having a specific goal in mind. Let’s evaluate the trade and how each team did.

There’s never a dull moment when Jim Rutherford is your general manager. The Pittsburgh Penguins general manager pulled off a stealthy trade when he moved Derick Brassard and Riley Sheahan, along with a second-round pick and two fourth-round picks, to the Florida Panthers for Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann.

This trade makes sense for both sides. The Penguins wanted to upgrade their bottom six and they have done precisely that. On the other hand, the Panthers got rid of some salary commitments and picked up three mid-round draft picks. Let’s evaluate the trade from both sides.

Pittsburgh

More from Puck Prose

• Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
• This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
• 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
• 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
• This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings

McCann is the best player in this trade. The Pens needed an upgrade at third-line center and he’ll give them that. McCann can chip in points at a very respectable rate while driving play. He’s under team control for one more year at $1.25 million before becoming a restricted free agent.

Bjugstad is a bit of a wild card. He’s having a down year and his numbers away from Aleksander Barkov over the past three years are a bit alarming. Bjugstad has 12 points this season in 32 games, but it’s worth noting he’s a year removed from a career-high 49 points in 82 games last season.

His contract is a bit of a red flag. Bjugstad has two years left on his deal after this one at $4.1 million per year. The Penguins are hoping he can rebound and hoping a change in scenery does him well. For what it’s worth, Bjugstad’s numbers with McCann over the past three seasons are pretty encouraging. The draft picks they gave up are mid-rounders, so it’s not a huge deal.

Grade: B-. Bjugstad is an interesting guy to gamble on, but he’s versatile and can play with guys like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The real gem of the trade, though, is McCann.

Florida

This trade is far more interesting for the Panthers. First of all, they’ll likely trade Brassard and Sheahan. You can add whatever compensation they get for them in this return if you like. Getting three draft picks is pretty nice, as the Cats need some help there.

What makes this trade fascinating is how much cap space this opens up. Both Brassard nor Sheahan will be unrestricted free agents and neither of them is coming back to the Panthers. Before factoring in the rise in the salary cap, Florida will have about $21 million of cap space going into the offseason and 14 players under contract.

The Panthers have been linked to both Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky. This trade is all about opening up some cap room for at least one of them. If they want both, they have some more work to do. But getting both is far more plausible for Florida right now than it was 24 hours ago.

Grade: Incomplete. This trade can’t really be graded for the Panthers perspective until we see how they use their cap space. If it’s used to get Panarin or Bobrovsky? Great! If it’s not used to upgrade the team, this trade suddenly makes a lot less sense.