The Pittsburgh Penguins continued replenishing their injured roster today, trading a late-round draft pick to the Ottawa Senators for Alex Kovalev. The former Penguin joins a team that's just six points out of the top spot in the Eastern Conference despite injuries to their two best players, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
Ottawa Senators Trade Alex Kovalev To Pittsburgh Penguins
It's the second big trade for a forward this week completed by Ray Shero, who traded defenseman Alex Goligoski to Dallas for James Neal and defenseman Matt Niskanen. Kovalev is older now, sure, and he's not the same player that played four seasons with the Pens in the early 2000s.
Still, Kovalev will add a nice extra layer of offense to the depleted Penguins attack. He has his faults and he’s not the most defensively responsible player in the world, but considering they only had to give up a seventh round pick to get him, people in Pittsburgh won’t be complaining.
Kovalev is a free agent at the end of the current season.
As for the Senators, at least they get something in exchange for the guy who probably wasn’t going to be back in town beyond this season. They replace Kovalev in part by claiming Marek Svatos off waivers, which also allows the team to become less an AHL club, more an NHL club again. And the rebuild continues.
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