The Pittsburgh Penguins have traded young
forward Daniel Sprong to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for young defenseman
Marcus Pettersson.
Both the Anaheim Ducks and
the Pittsburgh Penguins are underachieving
a bit. For the former, at least they have the rest of the Pacific Division (shy
of the Calgary Flames) being quite inconsistent. But for the latter, they
currently find themselves very close to the bottom of the Eastern Conference
standings. The two sides have swapped young players who could use a change,
with the Pens getting Marcus Pettersson and the Ducks
getting Daniel Sprong.
Sprong has been in trade rumors for a while now. The
Pens, for better or for worse, decided moving on from him was better than
giving him some more time to figure things out. With four points in 16 games,
the team simply wasn’t getting enough from Sprong, who they had high hopes for.
Pettersson is a year older than
Sprong, but both are second-round picks. The former was in 2014 with the latter
being in 2015. Pettersson is the most proven player, as he has played in 49
games compared to Sprong’s 42.
Neither player was fitting in
overly well with their current team. However, the Ducks are getting the more
interesting player of the two. At least Sprong is a year removed from being a
darn good AHL player. And he’s still got enough potential to be a scoring wing.
Pettersson hasn’t shown much on
offense yet, as he has just 10 points in 49 games. Though it’s worth
noting the Ducks have been primarily using him in a third-pairing role.
Pettersson, when given the right defensive partner this season, has put up
admirable possession numbers.
Since he’s left-handed and the
Penguins already had five left-handed defensemen to begin with, it should be
interesting to see what they do with six left-handed blue liners. My best guess
is either Pettersson or Juuso Riikola get sent to the minors,
since both are waiver exempt and both would be better off getting more playing
time.
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