Penguins Acquire Trevor Daley for Rob Scuderi
The Pittsburgh Penguins have a new head coach and now a new defenseman. The Penguins on Monday traded Rob Scuderi a defenseman to the Chicago Blackhawks for defenseman Trevor Daley.
Pittsburgh retains 33% of the $3 million Scuderi salary, said Jim Rutherford the general manager.
The Penguins have expressed their interest in Daley over the past month, according to GM Rutherford but were not able to find a player the Blackhawks were willing to accept until late Monday.
Daley, who is 32, has played in 785 games in the NHL, scoring 67 points and 231 goals. He has played 756 of the 785 games for the Dallas Stars.
He has recorded six assists this season but has not scored a goal in the 29 games he played this season with Chicago. On July 10, he was traded from Dallas to Chicago with Ryan Garbutt a forward for Patrick Sharp a forward and Stephen Johns a defenseman.
Rutherford said the Pens like Daley due to his ability to skate. He is able to move the puck up the ice, something the Pens want to improve in the back and feel Daley is capable of doing that.
One game into the new tenure of Mike Sullivan as the coach of Pittsburgh, Rutherford said the addition of Daley would prove useful in the system Sullivan runs, which focuses on having clean breakouts.
With Kris Letang another defenseman recovering from an injury, the versatility of Daley could also help Sullivan’s plans, who the GM said makes all decisions for the lineup.
Sullivan was given the coaching job for Pittsburgh on Saturday following the firing of Mike Johnston.
Pittsburgh was able to generate 45 shots in the first game under Sullivan, but lost to Washington 4-1. Rutherford said the effort of the team impressed him and believed that Daley will fit in nicely with Pittsburgh.
The Penguins have no plans to make any additional trades for the immediate future, said Rutherford late Monday night.
Rutherford wants to give his new head coach some time with this group of players to see how they mesh and then the team could look at a trade if it was needed.
Scuderi, who is 36, was with Pittsburgh for the second time after winning the Stanley Cup back in 2008-09 with team.
Rutherford said Scuderi was not required to wave his clause of no-trade for the deal to be accomplished.
Pittsburgh is currently in fifth place in the Metropolitan division and 13th in the Eastern Conference with 33 points.
