Penguins make moves ahead of Friday's trade deadline

Michael Bunting very much enjoyed his time in Pittsburgh.

Nearly a year ago (March 7, 2024), he was the only NHL player the Penguins received — along with a bundle of future assets — when they dealt away popular All-Star forward Jake Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes.

And almost immediately, Bunting helped invigorate the scuttling Penguins into a late-season charge that nearly got his new team into the playoffs.

“We have a great room in here, and I’ve had a lot of fun in here this year, just with the guys and coming to the rink every single night,” Bunting said Feb. 16 in Cranberry. “I can complement guys being on their line, and that’s what I try to do. If I’m playing with (forward Evgeni Malkin), if I’m playing with anybody, I just try to create space for them.”

On Wednesday night, the Penguins rearranged the space on their roster by trading Bunting and a fourth-round draft pick in 2026 to the Nashville Predators in exchange for defenseman Luke Schenn and forward Tommy Novak.

Earlier in the evening, defenseman Vincent Desharnais was dealt to the San Jose Sharks for a fifth-round draft pick in 2028.

These transactions happened less than 48 hours before the NHL’s trade deadline at 3 p.m. Friday.

Novak was the primary attraction for the Penguins.

“We looked at the two trades in totality — Desharnais, Bunting and a pick for Novak, Schenn and a pick,” Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas wrote in an email with local outlets. “The motivation being that Tommy was younger, under team control for an additional season over (Bunting), carried a lower cap charge and is primarily a center — we felt that carried a large amount of value as we move ahead here with our plans.

“As for Luke, his experience, leadership, toughness, and spirit will be a major benefit to helping the Penguins maintain standards and support our existing core as they help to lead us through this phase in our program’s evolution.”

At 35, Schenn doesn’t appear to be an ideal fit for a franchise that has been largely trying to add future assets over the past year.

But Dubas lauded Schenn’s intangibles as a veteran with nearly two decades of experience in the NHL.

“We moved Vinny to San Jose in (lockstep) with the Nashville trade because we feel that having Luke’s defensive play, character, leadership, toughness and spirit is something we need here to help push our program through this phase and preserve our culture and standards as we work to return to contention,” Dubas wrote. “We believe the way he plays and the way he carries himself each day will be very well received by Penguins fans and the city of Pittsburgh.”

The right-handed Schenn (6-foot-2, 225 pounds), has one year remaining (beyond the current season) on his contract with a salary cap hit of $2.75 million. In 61 games this season, he has five points (one goal, four assists) while averaging 15 minutes, 35 seconds of ice time.

A rugged defensive presence, Schenn entered Wednesday third in the NHL with 228 hits this season.

With 17 seasons in the NHL, Schenn has been around the circuit. In addition to the Predators, Schenn has played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angles Kings, Arizona Coyotes, Anaheim Ducks, Vancouver Canucks and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Selected No. 5 overall in the 2008 NHL Draft by the Lightning, Schenn was a member of the Lightning’s Stanley Cup championship teams in 2020 and 2021.

A total of 42 active NHLers have more than 1,000 career games on their resume. Five are now employed by the Penguins including forward Sidney Crosby (1,334), Malkin (1,199), defenseman Kris Letang (1,143), defenseman Erik Karlsson (1,066) and now Schenn (1,057).

Only the Washington Capitals (Alex Ovechkin — 1,471, Nicklas Backstrom — 1,105, Lars Eller — 1,095, John Carlson — 1,070 and T.J. Oshie — 1,010) have as many.

As for the 27-year-old Novak, his presence is more congruent with the pursuit of a youth movement. In the first year of a three-year contract with a salary cap hit of $3.5 million, the left-handed Novak (6-1, 179 pounds) has appeared in 52 games and scored 22 points (13 goals, nine assists) while clocking an average of 13:14 of ice time.

Nashville goal!

Scored by Tommy Novak with 13:03 remaining in the 1st period.

Nashville: 1
Buffalo: 0#BUFvsNSH #Smashville #SabreHood pic.twitter.com/fdpvKpMM3l

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 9, 2025

Novak was a third-round pick (No. 85 overall) of the Predators in the 2015 NHL Draft. He signed his current contract just over a year ago (March 4, 2024).

“We like Tommy’s ability to control play, generate scoring chances for himself and others, and produce at even strength,” Dubas wrote. “Nashville did a great job with his development over the years and he blossomed into a very solid player for them. He has been on our priority list for a few years now here and we feel his mobility, playmaking and production as a center provides us a great option in the years ahead.

Bunting, 29, was one of the more productive players on a team that had largely struggled this season. In 58 games, he had scored 29 points (14 goals, 15 assists), including a team-best nine power-play goals. Primarily stationed on the second line with Malkin, Bunting had averaged 15:15 of ice time.

At the time of the trade, Bunting was on injured reserve after having his appendix removed and had missed the team’s past four games because of the ailment.

A left-handed shot, Bunting is in the second year of a three-year contract with a salary cap hit of $4.5 million. His contract carries a modified no-trade clause, but it is believed he did not have to waive it for this transaction to be executed.

Given how well Bunting had largely fit into the Penguins’ scheme in his nearly year-long tenure with the team, his departure was somewhat surprising, especially given his history with Dubas.

Bunting previously played for Dubas when the latter was an executive with the Toronto Maple Leafs as well as at the junior level with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League.

“As we know, I’ve got a long relationship with (Bunting) and think the world of him as a person and player,” Dubas wrote. “Last season he came in at a tough time, right when we had pivoted the Penguins from two decades of — rightfully — really going for it every season. His competitiveness and scoring was a key factor in the late season run for us here. After a tough start this season, he showed his usual resilience and rebounded for us.

“In the end, (Bunting) was obviously central to Nashville doing this deal and those are the difficult decisions you have to make in this chair. Regardless of personal feelings, we have to always do what’s in the best interest of the Pittsburgh Penguins.”

Desharnais’ tenure with the Penguins was brief. Acquired in a trade that sent forward Drew O’Connor and Marcus Pettersson to the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 1, Desharnais, 28, appeared 10 games for the Penguins and did not record a point while logging 14:24 of ice time per contest.

The right-handed Desharnais (6-7, 226 pounds) is in the first year of a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $2 million.

Following these transactions, the Penguins have 49 NHL contracts for the season, one short of the NHL limit of 50. Per Puckpedia, the Penguins are projected to have $11,018,140 of salary cap space entering Friday’s deadline.

“This is one of the more unique markets that I’ve encountered leading up to the trade deadline,” Dubas wrote. “There’s a lot of parity and different strategies that contending teams have deployed, combined with teams that are out of the race being very clear that with the salary cap going up in 2025-2026 and the two years beyond, that they plan to be aggressive with their acquisitions come July.

“Overall, I think we are positioned well over the next few days — but especially heading into the summer and beyond — to continue to execute our plan as we have been for the last 12 months and continue to work to return the Penguins back into contention as soon as possible.”