Penguins boast of being 'better today' with Nick Bonino, Mikael Granlund, Dmitry Kulikov
Nick Bonino objected almost immediately.
When the Pittsburgh Penguins were on the verge of elimination in the 2016 Eastern Conference final against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin came a few syllables short of guaranteeing victory before Game 6 in Tampa as his team faced a 3-2 series deficit.
“I believe my team,” Malkin after his team suffered a crushing 4-3 home overtime loss at what was then called Consol Energy Center. “I believe in myself. And we can get it back at Pittsburgh for sure.”
While it wasn’t a Namathian-level boast, Malkin offered bold words for a team on the verge of seeing its season come to an end against a more-than-worthy opponent.
A reporter clumsily posed a question to Bonino, then the center of the Penguins’ third line, about Malkin’s message.
“What does it mean when a leader puts himself out on a limb like that?”
Bonino, without hesitation, rejected the premise of the query.
“I don’t think that’s going out on a limb,” Bonino said in the visiting dressing room of Amalie Arena. “They’re (the Lightning) not going to say, ‘We’re not going back to Pittsburgh. They’re going to try to get the win. We’re going to try to do the same. The first team to four wins.
“We’re going to try to get there before them.”
Sure enough, the Penguins got to that terminus before the Lightning. An empty-net goal by Bonino helped secure a 5-2 road win in Game 6 on May 24. Two nights later, the Penguins claimed the series with a thrilling 2-1 home win in Game 7.
By June 12, Bonino and the Penguins raised the Stanley Cup at SAP Center in San Jose, the first of two consecutive championships.
It might be going out on a limb to suggest the current edition of the Penguins is a serious contender for another title, but they’ll finish this season one way or another with Bonino back in their nest.
He’ll be joined by newcomers Mikael Granlund and Dmitry Kulikov.
On Friday in advance of the NHL’s trade deadline, the Penguins reacquired Bonino, most recently of the San Jose Sharks, in a multi-team transaction. Additionally, they added Kulikov, a depth defenseman, from the Anaheim Ducks.
Two days earlier, Granlund, a versatile player who can play all three forward positions, arrived from the Nashville Predators.
It’s debatable if the Penguins are indeed better. But the man who brought in all three players certainly sees his squad as being deeper.
“I liked the way our team is playing,” general manager Ron Hextall said. “We like our team. We wanted to enhance our chances and get better, and we felt like we did.”
The deal to bring back Bonino — the “B” component to the famed “HBK Line” that helped the Penguins the Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017 — was not simple.
• First, the Sharks dealt Bonino and a fifth-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for the NHL rights of unsigned forward prospect Arvid Henriksson.
• Additionally, the Sharks dealt the signing rights of defensive prospect Tony Sund to the Penguins for a conditional 2024 fifth-round draft pick and a 2023 seventh-round draft pick. The conditional fifth-round pick can become a fourth-round selection in the same year should the Penguins advance to this season’s Eastern Conference final.
• Finally, the Penguins acquired Bonino from the Canadiens, who retained 50% of Bonino’s salary cap hit of $2.05 million ($1.025 million), in exchange for Sund’s rights.
The left-handed Bonino (6-foot-1, 195 pounds) has appeared in 59 games this season and has 19 points (10 goals, nine assists). This marks the seventh consecutive season Bonino has reached double-digit figures in goals.
Typically deployed among the team’s bottom-six forwards, Bonino has averaged 16 minutes, 13 seconds of average ice time per contest this season and leads Sharks forwards in short-handed ice time, clocking an average of 2:14 per game.
A strong faceoff presence throughout most of his career, the left-handed Bonino (6-foot-1, 195 pounds) has had a down season in that regard, winning only 48.5% of his draws (205 wins, 218 losses). He is second among NHL forwards in blocked shots with 74.
As for Kulikov, the Penguins brought him in by sending discarded forward Brock McGinn and a third-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft to the Ducks. The Ducks agreed to retain half of Kulikov’s salary cap hit of $2.25 million ($1.125 million).
In the final year of his contract, Kulikov, 32, has appeared in 61 games this season and has 15 points (three goals, 12 assists) while averaging 20:13 of ice time per contest.
Additionally, the team assigned forwards Drew O’Connor and Drake Caggiula to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Friday to create some financial flexibility while also keeping both players eligible for the AHL’s postseason.
Hextall indicated O’Connor, who does not require waivers for any transactions with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, is expected to be recalled to the NHL roster Saturday.
Caggiula cleared waivers in October and has not yet accrued enough service time at the NHL level needed to be exposed again.
According to Cap Friendly, the Penguins emerged from the trade deadline with $1,376,215 of salary cap space. That is sufficient flexibility to make a recall from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
All of this leaves the Penguins with a considerably different group of bottom-six forwards.
Out are Kasperi Kapanen (claimed off waivers by the Blues on Saturday), Teddy Blueger (traded to the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday) and McGinn.
They largely have been replaced by Bonino and Granlund (as well as O’Connor to a certain extent).
All three can play center or wing, and their versatility is what management finds appealing.
“In terms of the centers, what I like to do is supply the coaches with as many options as possible,” Hextall said. “Because a lot of centers — Mikael is a great example — can play all three positions. But it’s hard to move guys that have played wing their whole life into the middle and expect them to do the job there. Nick’s played a lot of wing this (season) but can also play the middle, can kill penalties, can take faceoffs. Mikael, similarly, he’s a good penalty killer, he can play on the power play and also play all three (forward) positions.”
Granlund, in particular, appeared to be Hextall’s biggest target. And not just over recent weeks. Additionally, with two years remaining on his contract, Granlund can be a significant part of the team’s roster beyond this season.
“He’s a guy that we actually tried to get a couple of years ago at the deadline,” Hextall said. “And I talked to three or four (general managers Friday) that said they’ve tried to get him the last couple of years. He was a coveted player because of his versatility. He’s the type of guy that can play in the middle or play on the wing. If we go to next summer and you start penciling your lineup in, you can put him in any of the three spots and you’re not necessarily wrong.
“So, we like the flexibility he gives us now and moving forward.”
During a 5-4 overtime road win against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Granlund primarily skated on the right wing of the third line and was deployed heavily on the penalty kill.
In 59 games this season, Granlund has 36 points (nine goals, 27 assists) and has averaged 18:36 of ice time per contest.
On the blue line, the left-handed Kulikov is a sturdy veteran option who can play either side of a pairing.
In particular, the Penguins’ organizational depth has been hampered on the left side as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defensemen Ty Smith (facial fracture) and Xavier Ouellet (undisclosed) are sidelined indefinitely due to various injuries.
“If we lose one guy with Ouellet being out for the year, we could have been in trouble,” Hextall said. “(Right-handed defenseman Mark Friedman) can play over there, but we don’t have another left shot. We felt that was a need.”
A first-round pick by the Florida Panthers (No. 14 overall) in 2009, Kulikov largely has had a nomadic existence as an NHLer. In addition to the Ducks and Panthers, the native of Russia has played for the Buffalo Sabres, Winnipeg Jets, New Jersey Devils, Edmonton Oilers and Minnesota Wild over 14 seasons.
He likely will compete with rookie left-hander P.O Joseph for ice time on the third pairing.
After Thursday’s resilient win against the Lightning, one of the NHL’s premier franchises, the Penguins are in the midst of a four-game winning streak that has pushed them into the top wild-card seed in the Eastern Conference with a 31-21-9 record and 71 points.
They still are in a seemingly daily battle to cling to either of the two available wild-card spots. But they profess they are in a better position to get where they want to go this season.
“We made our team better today,” Hextall boasted. “There’s a lot of teams that are capable of winning the (Stanley) Cup.
“I’d say we’re one of them.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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