Trades were said to be hard to come by in the 2015-16 NHL, thanks in large part to the sagging Canadian dollar and uncertain salary cap projections for next season, but that didn't stop the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins pulling off a deal that saw a couple of aging, limited blueliners sent to new hockey homes and ultimately amounted to a dollar in, dollar out deal. The teams announced on Monday that the Blackhawks had acquired Rob Scuderi from the Penguins in exchange for Trevor Daley.
At first glance this seems like a surprising and, in many ways, almost pointless deal, but you don't have to dig much deeper to see why these two teams pulled it off. Daley, an offensive-minded player, was struggling as a bottom pairing defender in Chicago. Scuderi, despite his plus-four rating and four assists, was part of a Penguins defensive corps that was bringing the entire team down due to their inability to aid the forward corps on the breakout or in the creation of offense.
Chicago needs defense - Scuderi has 32 blocked shots and can play on the penalty kill. Pittsburgh needs offense - Daley, despite having just six points, all assists to his name this season, had a career year offensively with the Dallas Stars in 2014-15, notching 16 goals and 22 assists. Penguins GM Jim Rutherford had been very vocal about the issues facing his team and his pursuit of defensive upgrades recently. This what he had to say about the deal...
Rutherford on the Scuderi-Daley trade: "We've been talking about it for awhile... We like Trevor. He can skate and can move the puck."
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 15, 2015
Rutherford on if he wants to make more personnel changes: "I'd like to give Mike a little time with this group and see how it settles in." — Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 15, 2015
With Kris Letang down for a couple of weeks, Daley will hopefully provide a nice offensive spark from the backend now and for the remainder of the season for new head coach Mike Sullivan's Penguin group. And for the Blackhawks, Scuderi should fill the kind of bottom of the roster defensive role, while providing a strong veteran presence, that Daley wasn't able to.
