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The Pittsburgh Penguins made a trade with the Florida Panthers to shore up their terrible bottom six forward depth. The player that they landed was Florida Panthers center Marcel Goc, a very nice pickup in an effort to improve the third line. The cost to acquire Goc was not bad either, a 2015 third round pick and a 2014 fifth round pick. I really like the acquisition of Goc. He was the kind of player that was a must to help out the bottom six. It aso gives the Penguins a puncher’s chance at a Stanley Cup. Status quo was guaranteed to fail.
Goc plays tough minutes in Florida and comes away with good possession , the absolute opposite of what the Penguins current third line does. By trading for Goc earlier than the three o'clock deadline it also provided the Penguins flexibility to make a run at Ryan Kesler. By having Goc, Brandon Sutter became expendable.
Ultimately the deal for Kesler did not get done but it wasn’t for lack of effort from the Penguins. Some reports say that it was Vancouver ownership, not Mike Gillis, who nixed any potential Kesler trade
Told #pens felt they had substantial offer to #Canucks. Feel ownership nixed plans for trade that would have sent Kesler to Pitt.
— Rob Rossi (@RobRossi_Trib) March 5, 2014Penguins tried hard, and things didn’t work out. I don’t believe this prevented Shero from acquiring other players.
The Penguins also acquired Lee Stempniak to further improve their bottom six scoring depth. Stempniak is clearly a Plan-B kind of guy but at least the Penguins have a GM who has multiple plans to fall back on. Stempniak was acquired for a 2014 third round pick. Another trade that helps out, but doesn’t cost much.
I’ll have a breakdown of Stempniak’s potential impact on the Penguins roster in a future blog.
I like that the Penguins did not get into the high end rental market for a top 6 rental player,
I wrote about Ales Hemsky and his potential of joining the Penguins earlier in the week and I still think that could have been a move that would have helped. Ottawa was eventually the team that traded for him; he went for a third round pick in 2015 and a fifth round pick in 2014.
The real wild card now is Beau Bennett. Can he get healthy and can he give Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz some help? He's going to have to. I do think he has the talent and the hockey IQ to make it happen, but he is going to have to prove that he can stay in the lineup. I have always been bullish on Bennett’s potential and that has not changed. Bennett could be that “trade deadline pickup… that the Penguins need up front.
It’s not sure thing but it could happen and it would be a great surprise.
The Penguins did not acquire a defenseman at the deadline and that means Simon Despres is going to have to be a positive factor moving forward. His puck skills will be desperately needed, especially with Martin out for now and Letang more than likely done for the year.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a better team than they were when the day began today. Does that mean that Pittsburgh should start planning their parade? No, but they do have a better chance now. Status quo was guaranteed failure.
Thanks for reading!
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