Penguins acquire Senators’ Derick Brassard for playoff run, per report
Pittsburgh has found its third-line center.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired center Derick Brassard from the Ottawa Senators for young goaltender Filip Gustavsson, defenseman Ian Cole, and their 2018 first-round pick, reports TSN’s Darren Dreger.
However, there may be more to the deal than we’ve seen so far.
There are still more details to come in this Pittsburgh-Ottawa trade, perhaps a third team involved in some manner...
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) February 23, 2018
Just talked to someone who said of the Brassard deal "The league hasn't weighed in on it yet, this one is a complex one."
— John Shannon (@JSportsnet) February 23, 2018
The acquisition of Brassard gives the Penguins the third-line center they’ve been seeking since Nick Bonino signed with the Predators over the summer. He’s in the middle of a good season with 38 points in 58 games for the Senators, and solves the team’s biggest question mark over the past several months.
The Penguins already have two of the best centers in the world in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, so having Brassard to anchor the third line gives Mike Sullivan some serious depth through next season when the forward’s deal expires.
The Penguins had tried to address their No. 3 center issue by trading for Detroit’s Riley Sheahan earlier this season, but Brassard is an even bigger upgrade. It’s a clear statement by the team that it plans to make a run at another Stanley Cup.
The cost landing Brassard for the next year-plus was a relatively high one. The Senators receive Gustavsson, a talented 19-year-old goaltender who was the No. 55 overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, along with a veteran defenseman in Cole and the Penguins’ 2018 first-rounder.
Cole is an upcoming unrestricted free agent with a $2.1 million cap hit, so his inclusion was likely to keep the Penguins cap compliant given Brassard is signed to a $5 million cap hit through next season. It’s possible Ottawa still trades Cole elsewhere to continue piling up future assets before the Feb. 26 deadline.
Other than Cole, the Senators still have Erik Karlsson, Mike Hoffman, Bobby Ryan, and others as potential trade candidates. This could be a busy few days for Senators general manager Pierre Dorion.