Busy day. The Penguins created cap space a couple of hours ago and now they are using some of it. The Penguins acquired offensive defenseman Jeff Petry from the Montreal Canadiens
I like Petry as a player. I very much like the fact they have another right-side defender who can help Kris Letang put up some offense. I don’t care about his age or contract because this is the window they are operating in. His power play contributions aren’t great. They don’t have to be. He isn’t playing over Letang on the first unit, anyways. He will be the type of player that can keep good sequences going in the offensive zone. Plays shouldn’t die on his stick like they do with lesser offensively gifted players. I like the fit he brings for the team.
It is harder to find quality right defenseman than left defenseman. The Penguins have an offensively formidable top two now on the right side with Letang and Petry. When we talk about Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin needing more help than they used to one way to provide that help is offense from the blue line. Petry should provide this
I was sour on Mike Matheson when the team traded for him. He won me back a little bit this year when his caliber of play was the best it had been. He isn’t the guy I would have moved. I would have gone all-in on the defense being able to make offensive plays. It is fine he is being moved because we can’t be certain this past season was his true self and his contract is on the books for quite a long time.
The thing that sticks out to me at the moment is why the need for Jan Rutta? Chad Ruhwedel and Mark Friedman are a fine platoon for the bottom pairing role. There’s really no need for Rutta if the plan was to acquire Petry all along. Rumors about Petry and the Penguins go back to the draft, apparently. I think the Rutta deal as it presently stands is wasteful spending on a team that can’t do wasteful spending.
Ryan Poehling is just a throw in, not much there at this point in time.
It has been a weird day. Much like the Marino trade we will have to revisit this trade based on the other things the team has planned. Acquiring Petry has potential to be a solid addition. There needs to be more moves because they are just shuffling chairs on the deck at the moment.
I don’t think the Penguins are done wheeling and dealing. Stay tuned.
Thanks for reading!
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»