SUNRISE, Fla. — The Penguins continued to tinker with their supporting cast Friday with a pair of relatively minor trades before the NHL's trade deadline.
They sent a 2024 third-round pick and Brock McGinn to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for veteran defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound lefty.
That move improves their depth on the blue line, though it raises questions about whether he will assume someone else's lineup spot. Just as important, finding a taker for McGinn's contract provides them future salary cap relief.
They also welcomed back Nick Bonino, the veteran center who helped them win their back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017. The cost to get him from the San Jose Sharks was a 2023 seventh-round pick and a conditional fifth-rounder in 2024. To make the money work, Montreal was involved in the three-team trade.
All three players picked up by the Penguins this week are aged 31 or older.
Embattled general manager Ron Hextall has brokered four deals since Wednesday to reshape the bottom six. He also traded Teddy Blueger, in part to make room for Mikael Granlund, the team's biggest pickup, acquired from Nashville.
Bonino was a valuable two-way contributor and fan favorite during those Cup runs, centering the "HBK line" between Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel in 2016. He got the series-clinching goal against Washington in the 2016 second round. He had eight goals, 25 points and a plus-13 rating in those two postseasons.
Bonino, who turns 35 next month, spent the last two seasons with the struggling Sharks. He has 10 goals and 19 points in 59 games in 2022-23. Despite a minus-6 rating, advanced statistics suggest he is still impactful on the defensive end.
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound forward will restore center depth for the Penguins, who dealt Blueger to Vegas on Wednesday and are not sure when Ryan Poehling will return to the lineup after he suffered another setback this week.
Kulikov struggled this season in an elevated role for the Ducks, the league's worst defensive team. But he has a track record of being a reliable defensive-minded blue-liner. He had a fine 2021-22 season with the Minnesota Wild.
The Russian has played 866 career games for a total of seven franchises in his 14-year career. He has 45 career goals, 213 points and a minus-49 rating.
In totality, Hextall and the Penguins traded four draft picks, the most valuable being a 2023 second-rounder, as they looked to give Sidney Crosby and Co. a better chance of winning the Cup. They got back a third-rounder for Blueger.
McGinn was sent down to the American Hockey League on Thursday after he went unclaimed on waivers. He was one of Hextall's first additions as GM. He had two more seasons left on his contract, which has a $2.75 million cap hit.
