A trade idea for the Penguins — and who they may move in return
By this time next Tuesday, we will know what the Pittsburgh Penguins did — or didn’t do — before the 2021 NHL trade deadline. It’s Monday afternoon, April 12.
In our weekly “Breakfast With Benz” hockey podcast, Brian Metzer of the Penguins Radio Network has an idea about who the Penguins may chase.
“I keep going to Sam Bennett (4 goals, 9 points) of the Calgary Flames,” Metzer said. “There is history with (Penguins president of hockey operations) Brian Burke. He was involved in their management when Bennet was drafted (fourth overall) with Calgary (2014) … For whatever reason, he has never put it all together. He doesn’t look like he should’ve been selected as high as he was.
“However, he does have size. He has a little bit of offensive upside. He can play more than a regular shift in the NHL. And he brings the physicality that Burke and (general manager) Ron Hextall have been talking about.”
Bennett is 6-foot-1, 195 pounds. But he’s never scored more than 18 goals or tallied more than 36 points in a season. The Penguins would be picking up the remainder of his $2.5 million salary cap hit. He’s going to be a restricted free agent after this year.
So who would Metzer give up? He doesn’t like the idea of dealing winger Jason Zucker. Instead, he prefers to move a defenseman.
“I think Marcus Pettersson is an intriguing body to move,” Metzer said. “Because he will carry value. He brings a little bit of what (the Penguins) are looking for to bring in. But he doesn’t do it often enough. You would think being Swedish, 6-foot-3, 177 pounds, he’d be more Ulf Samuelsson than he is. But he really isn’t.”
One issue is that Pettersson is signed through 2025 at $4 million per year. That’ll be a team-friendly number down the road if Pettersson works out in his new city. But a club may not want to pick up that much for the rest of this year.
Metzer said a cheaper option this year would be Juuso Riikola who is only on a $1.15 million ticket through the end of next season.
“He is willing to sign here every single season,” Metzer said of Riikola. “And he never gets into the lineup. But he is a mobile defenseman with a big shot from the point. I think a young team in the league may be looking at him as something they may covet.”
As of right now, the Flames only have $1.6 million in salary cap space according to CapFriendly.com. Only seven teams have less room.
I like where Metzer is coming from on this idea. If things don’t work out with Bennett, they can just let him walk. If they decide to keep him, the price on the restricted free agent market shouldn’t be overwhelming. And that could be a good price for a third-line forward next year. But Burke and Hextall may have to finagle the money to make a deal like that work.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.