The struggling Los Angeles Kings swapped wingers with the Pittsburgh Penguins in a one-for-one deal on Wednesday. Who came out on top?
Penguins get: LW Tanner Pearson
Kings get: LW Carl Hagelin
Pittsburgh: A-
This isn't the first early-season malaise the Penguins have suffered through, nor is it the first time GM Jim Rutherford has threatened (and made) changes to kick-start them. You might recall the acquisition of Riley Sheahan on Oct. 21 of last season to address a lineup deficiency and shake up the room a little.
Trading Hagelin shakes up the room more seismically. He was a well-liked player among his teammates, a part of two Stanley Cup-winning teams and a linemate of stars Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel. "I'm sure it will affect the chemistry," said Rutherford on Wednesday. "He's a popular guy in the room. But I'm not sure how strong that chemistry is right now, based on what I'm seeing,"
Even in seasons when Hagelin didn't produce, he could be counted on a glue guy in the lineup during the playoffs. His speed and work on the penalty kill will be missed in the postseason. But you also have to be in the postseason to miss them, and the Penguins are sputtering.
Pearson continues Rutherford's tradition of buying low on players with high upside potential. He essentially acquired Kessel for Kasperi Kapanen and a first-rounder, in hindsight. From an on-ice perspective, the best thing about Pearson is his history of thriving with elite linemates. His best season in the NHL was 2016-17, scoring 24 goals on the wing of Jeff Carter. Rutherford noted this in his post-trade comments, no doubt seeing Pearson as an asset who could see time with either Malkin or Sidney Crosby. Maybe one of them can play detective and locate Pearson's offense, because he's been putrid this season. The winger has just one assist in 17 games and is on the negative side of possession metrics (minus-7 in shot attempts at 5-on-5).
Off the ice, it's a one-for-one trade that's a break-even against the salary cap this season. Pearson makes $3.75 million AAV, and Hagelin makes $4 million AAV, but the Penguins are retaining $250,000 of Hagelin's salary. It gives the Penguins a 26-year-old forward locked into a reasonable salary through 2021, while jettisoning a 30-year-old winger who hits unrestricted free agency next summer.
Financially, it's a smart move by Rutherford, if Pearson can find his game. Based on the centers he might line up with in Pittsburgh, that's a reasonable assumption. It's a change-of-scenery trade, and Pearson has to like the view.
Los Angeles: B
In a perfect world, every team would have a crystal ball to know exactly when to trade an asset. Alas, they do not, as evidenced by the managerial career of Peter Chiarelli. If they did, the Kings certainly would have moved Pearson when his stock was considerably higher than "swapped for the expiring contract of a 30-year-old Carl Hagelin," but one assist in 17 games will do that.
In the short term, the Kings' team speed is exponentially increased by Hagelin, who still has some of the best wheels in the NHL. Their middling penalty kill (21st, 78.4 percent) will get a boost from him, as well. Like Pearson, he's struggled mightily this year, with one goal and two assists, despite skating with Malkin and Kessel. He can get you 30 points in a good year, so maybe a change in scenery helps him, too.
As much as the Penguins are trying to shake up their team and change the season's trajectory, the Kings are, too. They fired John Stevens on Nov. 4, and they've now traded a popular forward who won a Cup with them -- one of only six skaters under the age of 27 on the roster -- in a desperate attempt to stop this bleeding, as they sit eight points out of the wild card just a month into the season.
In the long term, they will have more cap flexibility without Pearson or Hagelin on the roster this summer. And yes, we're assuming that Hagelin is either allowed to walk or is flipped at the trade deadline to a contender, in which case we might have to revisit this trade as "Tanner Pearson for a draft pick someone paid to rent a slightly used Carl Hagelin."
Whatever the case, it's just nice to see the Kings potentially executing a strategy for the future in what is increasingly becoming a lost season.