CRANBERRY TWP, PA (93.7 The Fan) – Pens General Manager Ron Hextall added a potential scoring winger and physical defenseman before the NHL Trade Deadline on Monday. He said they really didn't need to do anything.
"Typically when you go into a deadline, you feel like you really have to make a deal," Hextall said. "Quite frankly, I didn't feel like we had to make a deal. If we can improve the team we owe it to our players and the organization. Everything has to fit together and quite frankly with our cap situation, it's not easy to fit things together. If we could have kept the two players that we moved, we would have loved to."
Pens added 28-year-old Rickard Rakell, who is a right-handed, left winger for Dominic Simon, Zach Aston-Reese, a second-round pick and prospect goalie Calle Clang. Rakell, who is a free agent after this season, had 16 goals and 12 assists this season with Anaheim with only eight penalty minutes, five power-play goals and one game-winner. In 2016-17 he had a 33-goal season and followed that up with a 34-goal season.
"We like his skill set," Hextall said. "He plays with speed. He can play a fast game. We feel like he's going to fit in well with our group here. Whenever you can add to your scoring, it's hard to score in this league. When you can add a player of Rakell's resume, put him with our players. We feel like we are a better team right now than we were earlier this morning."
Hextall bemoaned having to lose Simon and Aston-Reese and didn't want to part with the prospect goalie. So why make a move at all?
"We felt like our secondary scoring has been a little bit of an issue," Hextall said. "It came to life a little bit lately, but I think when you can add to it. We think Rakell adds a lot to our group when it comes to the skill part of the game. Really makes us, certainly in our top nine and top 12, a lot deeper. It gives Sully some good options on the wings and also in the middle. We are excited about the acquisition. Hopefully he will be here tomorrow night."
Hextall said he didn't know he would make this deal until early Monday afternoon with the trade deadline at 3p on Monday. He said he remembers one year when the Pens didn't make a substantial deal and won the Stanley Cup. He said he wasn't trying to keep up with other teams, this move was done focusing on internally what they thought the team could use.
"We feel really good about it," Hextall said. "The last few games I think we really got back to the way we like to play and to the level that we are capable of playing as a group. That didn't influence today."
"We really like this team. There are a few teams that obviously have a chance to do something special. We feel like our chances are better now than they were yesterday."
Defenseman move
Earlier in the day the Pens traded a conditional seventh-round pick for defenseman Nathan Beaulieu. The 29-year-old played 24 games with the Jets before being placed on long-term injured reserve. Hextall called him a depth add, that he's a good fit for the group, but will remain out with his injury.
"He is going to be awhile," Hextall said. "That's more of a depth acquisition for us. He plays a real hard game, physical, boxing out. We felt he was a good fit with our group. The physical, rugged nature is what attracted us to him."
Pens return home Tuesday night hosting Columbus at 7p
