NHL Trade Grade: Derick Brassard trade works out for both Penguins and Panthers

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Florida Panthers made some major shakeups to their rosters Monday, but how did each team do in the deal?

Let the month of the trade deadline officially begin. It’s February 1st, and the trades are starting to roll in already, and they’re just going to keep getting juicier as we get closer to the deadline. This time, it’s the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Florida Panthers doing business, exchanging struggling forwards for an entirely different purpose.

Friday afternoon, it was announced that the Pittsburgh Penguins had sent Derick Brassard, Riley Sheahan, a second round pick, and two fourth round picks to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann.

On the surface, the Penguins get rid of two struggling forwards and receive an upgrade to their bottom, and the Panthers got rid of some salary commitments in order to make moves in the future and picked up three mid-round draft picks in this years draft.

There’s a lot to break down about this trade on both sides, so before we get to a winner of the trade, lets look at what each team is getting and getting rid of from their perspective.

Pittsburgh Penguins get what they needed, and got rid of what they didn’t

Derick Brassard was never going to be a Penguin past the trade deadline, it was simply not working out in Pittsburgh. The Penguins had acquired him at the last trade deadline at an attempt to go all in for the Stanley Cup, paying the Senators a sizable haul to get him, but it was never a fit from the start. Combining all of his regular season and playoff games as a Penguin, Brassard scored 27 points in 66 games.

Riley Sheahan was also acquired last season by the Penguins from the Detroit Red Wings as a way to strengthen their center depth. It actually worked out alright for most of last season, but this season he’s been a ghost on the ice at times. With nine points in 49 games for the $2.1M he was making, the Penguins needed an improvement.

In acquiring Jared McCann and Nick Bjugstad, the Penguins get the upgrade to their bottom six forwards that they desperately coveted. The 26 year old Bjugstad has five goals and seven assists in 32 games and is signed through 2021, carrying a contract with an average cap hit of $4.1M. Though Bjugstad is in the midst of a down season after scoring 49 points the year before, the Penguins are hoping for a rebound season along with the physicality he’ll bring to the lineup at 6’6. If this doesn’t work out either, that cap hit is going to hurt badly. Having Florida retain a bit of his salary for the next two seasons would’ve worked in Pittsburgh’s favor, especially considering the other assets Pittsburgh added onto the deal.

The real gem of this deal for Pittsburgh however is 22 year old Jared McCann. McCann has eight goals and 10 assists in 46 contests with Florida, but still has plenty of potential as a former late first round pick and will benefit from a change of scenery to a Cup contending team. McCann’s current contract is through 2020 and pays him an average of $1.25 million per season. With the Penguins prospect cupboard almost completely bare and the core getting older, getting youth with some more upside on the roster is crucial to the competitive future of the team beyond this season as well.

The Penguins currently hold a tiebreaker over the Washington Capitals for second place in the Metropolitan division with 60 points, and trail the New York Islanders by three for the division lead. Playoffs have been all but certainty all season, but the struggle for positioning within the division is getting closer and closer.

With their cap space all but gone and not much more dead money to move around without affecting the roster, the Penguins could be about done aside from some tinkering around the edges before the trade deadline. They’re a deep team all around, and they’re ready for another run at the Stanley Cup.

Penguins Trade Grade: B+

Florida Panthers still have a lot of work to do

This trade is much fascinating to look at from the Florida Panthers perspective. Along with acquiring three draft picks, the Panthers picked up two trade deadline rentals despite being 11 points out of a playoff spot at the moment. It’s highly doubtful that they’re loading up to make a push at the playoffs, but they’re not giving up on this season yet either.

Florida’s trade grade for this move entirely depends on what they do with both Brassard and Sheahan. The most obvious thing they can do is flip both of them at the trade deadline, but that probably will take some time to work out a deal. In the meantime, they will presumably see what they have in Brassard and see if he fits into the lineup. But what’s the scenario that they do end up keeping him? Even if he does fit the team and plays well, that should be incentive to move him at his highest value.

In moving Jared McCann and Nick Bjugstad, the Panthers free up long term salary commitments in order to make more moves at the trade deadline but more importantly in the coming offseason. The Panthers are now projected to have around $21M in cap space going into the offseason, which would leave plenty of room to land some of the big fish that are going to be available on July 1st.

A rumor that has floated around recently is that the Florida Panthers are going to be big players for Artemi Panarin AND Sergei Bobrovsky in free agency this summer, and if that’s the case, they just cleared off over $5M to work with in the next offseason to get those deals done. General manager Dale Tallon said as much in his conference addressing the move.

This trade for Florida is the first step taken before several other crucial moves. The purpose of the move is to get more flexibility in the next offseason, and likely to flip Brassard and Sheahan into some draft assets to really load up the team for a few years down the road. There’s still plenty that can go wrong here, the most obvious being that Panarin and Bobrovsky just don’t sign there. Even still, there are plenty of other free agents for them to go after, but this was quite a strange way to go about their business. How they use the cap space from this deal will determine how it helps the team.

Panthers Trade Grade: C+

Trade Winner: Pittsburgh Penguins

In terms of accomplishing a goal, the Penguins win this trade. They get the bottom six upgrade that they needed for the home stretch and playoff run, along with acquiring some youth in McCann for the future. The Panthers have plenty of other moves to make before the full vision of this deal is realized and maybe they turn this into something beneficial, but if they don’t then this trade is just a complete mess.

The Panthers have plenty of other moves to make before the full vision of this deal is realized and maybe they turn this into something beneficial, but if they don’t then this trade is just a complete mess. A lot can go right, but a lot can also go wrong. It can still work out, but there were likely more efficient ways that they could’ve gotten what they wanted.