It was looking like the Penguins weren't going to do much on deadline day and then during the final moments it was announced the Penguins had made two trades. The theme of these trades is depth, specifically for the defense.
The first trade
Frankie Corrado to PIT for Oleksy, Fehr and a fourth-round pick in 2017.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) March 1, 2017
Eric Fehr was the odd man out. The youngsters passed him on the depth chart and the two million dollar cap hit was too much to keep on the roster. Steve Olesky is a fringe NHL player that will more likely than not play for the Marlies. The fourth round pick was the cost of dumping Fehr's contract.
Frankie Corrado is a player who had some success playing in Toronto's bottom pairing last year. He is not going to generate a ton of offense, but according to some he is OK at shot suppression.
@jmarshfof he has limited offensive upside, but his defensive game was decent. He was playing well in the AHL on the Marlies top pair
— Stephen Burtch (@SteveBurtch) March 1, 2017
This year he was unable to crack the lineup and has since been returned to the Toronto Marlies. Since he was traded while on the Marlies the Penguins have the ability to send him to WB/S immediately which will probably be the case.
Here is some more information on Frankie Corrado
Frank Corrado has played very few games, and shown good PP results, middling shot results. pic.twitter.com/lGohiP9pKn
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) March 1, 2017
Trevor Daley was placed on LTIR and that made room for the acquisition of Mark Streit. Yes, that Mark Streit. One reason I never mentioned Streit was because he was a Philadelphia Flyer and I didn't think it would be likely that the two Pennsylvania teams would come together on a deal. This remains true because Streit was traded to the Penguins an hour after being moved to the Lightning.
The #Pens have acquired defenseman Mark Streit from the Lightning in exchange for a 2018 fourth-round pick. Details: https://t.co/QhnC6jU5L3 pic.twitter.com/oMousPmISk
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 1, 2017
A neat little twist on this deal is that the Philadelphia Flyers will be paying a part of Streit's salary
Mike Streit's salary now being paid like so: PHI (4.7%) TB (50%) PIT (45.3%)
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 1, 2017
That isn't a misprint. They are covering 4.7%.
So here is who Streit is as a player
Mark Streit is a 3-4 defender with good power-play numbers. This covers his age 37, 38, and 39 seasons. pic.twitter.com/wUVGNvYgPV
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) March 1, 2017
Nobody watches more hockey than Corey Sznajder who is one of the top people who manually track games. Here are his thoughts
If the Pens needed a defenseman to bang the puck off the glass for their forwards to chase down, Streit's a nice fit for that.
— Corey Sznajder (@ShutdownLine) March 1, 2017
@GunnerStaal Not anymore. He gets it out of the zone & doesn't turn it over, though.
— Corey Sznajder (@ShutdownLine) March 1, 2017
I view this as a successful deadline for Jim Rutherford. The only real piece of value he gave up was the second rounder for Ron Hainsey. The Penguins had some defensive depth issues because of injury and now they have a surplus of capable guys who can provide NHL minutes. The team will still need Kris Letang, Justin Schultz, and Brian Dumoulin to stay healthy, but they now have some insurance for the rest. What could the lineup look like if everybody were healthy?
Dumoulin-Letang Cole-Schultz Maatta-Hainsey Streit
I don't see a spot for Trevor Daley based on his injury and caliber of play this year.
Derrick Pouliot was called up today. He might see some game action tonight. I was under the belief that if he was on the NHL roster at 3PM that he would be ineligible for the AHL playoffs. That assumption seems to be incorrect
FYI I'm hearing Pouliot, Guentzel, Rowney, Corrado and Gaunce are all eligible for the AHL playoffs.
— Seth Lakso (@CVSethLakso) March 1, 2017
Marc-Andre Fleury was not traded. There was no market for him. Make no mistake the team would have moved him if they could. Anything else is a PR spin. As of right now Pittsburgh's goalie insurance is going to cost $1,916,667 for each of the next 4 years. They will need to find a team willing to trade for Fleury in the offseason. It could happen, but we are one step closer to that buyout territory.
All in all the deadline was a good one for the Penguins. They did nothing to jeopardize their long term window and improved the team in the short term. There were no big splashes, but we are talking about the defending Stanley Cup Champions returned everybody except Ben Lovejoy.
Thanks for reading!