3 defenseman options Pittsburgh Penguins could add at trade deadline
There’s not a lot of time to get injury clarity and make a move, but these three defenseman could be on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ radar.
The Pittsburgh Penguins lost a game Saturday night, 4-3 in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers, but they also had some notable losses on the blue line. Defenseman Kris Letang (upper body injury) and Brian Dumoulin (concussion) were injured in quick succession and did not return.
With Olli Maata (upper body injury) already out, Pittsburgh was left to complete Saturday night’s game with four available defenseman. Justin Schultz and Jack Johnson each topped 30 minutes of action in the game, with Marcus Pettersson and Chad Ruhwedel going over 22 minutes.
There isn’t much known about the status of Dumoulin and Letang right now, but it’s pretty safe to assume Dumoulin will miss time based purely on the nature of concussions. Dealing from a position of perceived depth, the Penguins traded defenseman Jamie Oleksiak back to the Dallas Stars last month. Now, potentially down three guys on the back line for a while, general manager Jim Rutherford has to consider making a move for a defenseman in the less than 24 hours left before Monday’s trade deadline (3 p.m. ET).
Pittsburgh can’t add much salary, and the overall rental market for defenseman doesn’t look great. But as they cling to playoff contention, tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for the final playoff spot in the East entering Sunday’s action, these blue-liners could be on the Penguins’ radar down to the wire of the trade deadline Monday afternoon.
3. Michael Del Zotto, Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks acquired Del Zotto from the Vancouver Canucks just over a month ago, but they are clearly trade deadline sellers (57 points, second-fewest in the Western Conference) with few realistically movable pieces.
Del Zotto has been a bit more active offensively with Anaheim, with a higher rate of shot attempts and shots on goal with almost as many points (three) in 12 games as he had in 23 games (four points) played for the Canucks. Possession metrics are generally neutral on him, as also reflected by being a perfect zero in plus/minus this season, but he’d be warm body for a team that stands to need one in Pittsburgh.
Del Zotto is on an expiring contract, with a $2.25 million salary this season, so the rest of that money fits well within what the Penguins have for cap space (approximately $2.3 million, via Cap Friendly).