NHL Trade News: Brassard to Penguins Trade is Finally Done

For the final trade details, see Update #4 at the bottom of the article.

Nine days after the Dion Phaneuf trade, the Senators have made their second big trade deadline deal (no offence, Chris DiDomenico) in sending Derick Brassard to the Penguins.

Brassard to Pittsburgh for a 1st, goalie Gustavsson and other cap related elements.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) February 23, 2018

Ian Cole to Ottawa part of deal as well. https://t.co/1BOxvKhY2d

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) February 23, 2018

So that’s a 1st-round pick (presumably in 2018), goaltender Filip Gustavsson, and Ian Cole for Derick Brassard.

It’s not hard to understand this deal from the Pens’ point of view. Brassard will presumably slot in behind Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, giving them a killer 1-2-3 punch down the middle

For the Senators, getting back a 1st-round pick and a promising prospect is a pretty good trade from their perspective. The 1st-rounder is likely to be a late pick (unless Erik Karlsson goes to Tampa) but it’s still a step in the road to rebuilding the prospect pool. Gustavsson was  2nd-round pick (55th overall) in the 2016 draft. He’s currently on loan with Lulea in the SHL, where he has a .917 save percentage and 2.16 GAA through 18 games as a 19-year-old in Sweden’s top league. Seems like a pretty good sign that the Sens are going to let Chris Driedger walk and give Marcus Hogberg and Gustavsson the chance to fight it out for goalie of the future.

Ian Cole is purely a salary dump so the Penguins could fit under the cap. He’s in the last year of a deal paying him $2.1M. Knowing the Sens, he’ll likely play ever game down the stretch, blocking players who may be part of the future from getting a chance, but he’s really in this to make it work for Pittsburgh.

Brassard came over just two years ago for Mika Zibanejad in an attempt to win while Erik Karlsson was on a cheap contract. He’s a UFA in 2019, and with Matt Duchene and still the possibility of Karlsson looking for extensions, Brass was never going to be re-signed at $5M per season well into his 30s. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Brassard out. Likely one of Jean-Gabriel Pageau or Zack Smith will get a shot as the second-line centre, with each also being rumoured in trades. For next season, there’s a decent chance we’ll see Logan Brown and Colin White get chances to seize that role.

For those missing Brassard already, you’ll have to wait until April 6th for the weird moment of seeing him in a Pittsburgh jersey.

UPDATES:

Many are reporting the Sens are likely to flip Ian Cole further. That would be ideal, if he could turn into another pick or something.

LeBrun also reporting that the deal may not be finalized yet - there may still be moving parts or even a third team. Stay tuned.

NEXT UPDATE:

Now it’s looking like we won’t know what’s going on for a while. Possibly Bobby Ryan going to Vegas as part of the package.

PIT-OTT deal involving Brassard is ultra-complicated, so much so that Brassard will likely first be traded to a team other than PIT. Then flipped to PIT. Hearing that third team is likely VGK. Potential for layers of salary retention.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 23, 2018

UPDATE #3:

Not so fast! The deal as a whole isn’t dead yet, but the specifics of the currently submitted version are.

Hearing @NHL has rejected the Brassard trade unless @penguins @Senators @GoldenKnights can restructure the trade to leagues satisfaction.

— Nick Kypreos (@RealKyper) February 23, 2018

So the three teams involved have to go back to the drawing board to get this done. No word yet on what the league took exception to in the deal.

UPDATE #4:

The deal is finally final! In what appears to have technically been four deals, here’s how each of the three teams end up.

Ottawa

In: Ian Cole, Filip Gustavsson, Pittsburgh’s 2018 1st round pick and 2019 3rd round pick.

Out: Derick Brassard, Vincent Dunn and their 2018 3rd round pick.

Pittsburgh:

In: Derick Brassard, Tobias Lindberg, Vincent Dunn and Ottawa’s 2018 3rd rounder

Out: Ian Cole, Filip Gustavsson, Ryan Reaves, their 2018 1st round pick, 2019 3rd round pick and Vancouver’s 2018 4th round pick

Vegas:

In: Ryan Reaves, Vancouver’s 2018 4th round pick

Out: Tobias Lindberg, and retain 40% of Brassard’s contract

As for the new Senator Ian Cole...

Ottawa started getting calls from teams on Ian Cole right away when news leaked earlier today. Sens plan to flip him before Monday's deadline.

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) February 24, 2018

Just as long as he’s not used to make a Karlsson trade happen.