Few NHL teams seem as well prepared for the season's second-half and the grueling playoff push than the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Deals for David Perron and Maxim Lapierre, combined with the recent return to health of Evgeni Malkin - he is reportedly set to enter the lineup against the Oilers on Wednesday - have put the Penguins and GM Jim Rutherford in an enviable spot with as strong a Stanley Cup outlook as any.
Rutherford though, may not be satisfied with the product as is, with TSN's Darren Dreger pointing to Vancouver Canucks forward Chris Higgins as a potential trade deadline addition.
"I talked to Jim Rutherford yesterday with Pittsburgh. He's getting healthy now. Malkin's good to go. It sounds like Ehrhoff and Comeau aren't that far off. Probably next week. He's made his deals in acquiring David Perron and Max Lapierre, but he's still intrigued by the concept of adding another third-line player to play with Spaling and Sutter," said Dreger on an episode of Vancouver's TSN 1040, NicholsOnHockey.com reported.
Malkin's return means he will likely join Patric Hornqvist and Beau Bennett on the second unit, pushing Nick Spaling and Brandon Sutter, who had been on the second line with Hornqvist recently, down to the third line.
Steve Downie is a candidate to join Spaling and Sutter, but it sounds as though Rutherford may instead look to add another piece from outside of the organization to take that empty spot.
Enter Higgins.
"Again, those depth forwards - guys that can move up and down your lineup are always valuable. Always valuable," Dreger said. "Particularly a guy like Higgins, who has a wealth of experience to go along with that."
Higgins, 31, has seven goals and 13 assists this season as a member of the Canucks' second unit, something that has been questioned recently in Vancouver, as his offensive output has been severely lacking - before scoring against the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 30, Higgins had gone 11 straight games without a goal.
Still, he's a tough, consistent veteran presence that would greatly increase the Penguins' forward depth for the postseason. In a potential third-line and, in a pinch, second-line role with Pittsburgh he'd be free to fall back on his defensive game without feeling as much pressure to produce offensively.
