Penguins manage re-worked, 3-team trade for Derick Brassard

RALEIGH, N.C. — Before trade-deadline talks heated up this week, general manager Jim Rutherford said he'd have to get “creative” to bring an impact player to the Penguins.

He wasn't kidding.

The Penguins acquired a potential difference maker at center, Ottawa's Derick Brassard, in a complicated three-way trade that took all day to gain the NHL's approval Friday.

“This is the most complex trade I've made,” the 69-year-old general manager said. “We thought we had the deal made earlier in the day. It wasn't made. We had to make a couple of changes and go through all those things. It took quite a bit longer than most.”

When the dust settled, six players and four draft picks were on the move.

The Penguins sent defenseman Ian Cole, top goalie prospect Filip Gustavsson, a 2018 first-rounder and a 2019 third-rounder to Ottawa for Brassard, minor leaguer Vincent Dunn and a 2018 third-rounder.

The Penguins also sent winger Ryan Reaves and a 2018 fourth-round pick to the Vegas Golden Knights for winger prospect Tobias Lindberg and the Golden Knights retaining 40 percent of Brassard's contract, which carries an annual value of $5 million and runs through next season.

The benefit for the Penguins is obvious.

The deal takes the area of the roster that has been the weakest this season — the center spots on the third and fourth lines — and turns it into a strength.

“You've got to have a lot of strength at center,” Rutherford said. “We just felt, when we had a chance to get a guy like this, this was a good addition.”

Brassard, who had 18 goals and 38 points in 58 games with Ottawa this season, was the top player available at the position at the trade deadline. His playoff pedigree — 22 goals and 55 points in 78 career games — makes him even more attractive to the Cup-hunting Penguins.

“He's a hell of a player,” winger Patric Hornqvist said.

The price the Penguins paid was not insignificant.

Cole has been a defensive cornerstone of the team's last two championship seasons, shaking off two stints as a healthy scratch to play some of his best hockey in recent weeks.

“He's handled it like a great pro, and I really thought when he went back in the lineup, he was here to stay this year,” Rutherford said. “But when you start breaking these deals down and you've got to figure out the cap and what teams will take back, it was one of the guys that had to go in the deal.”

By trading Cole, the Penguins opened a small crack in their otherwise stacked roster. Defensive depth could be called into question, with Matt Hunwick moving into the top six and Chad Ruhwedel behind him.

If Rutherford were to make another move before Monday's deadline — and he promised or suggested no such thing after a draining day Friday — it probably would be an addition on defense.

Rutherford also said he wasn't keen on giving up Reaves, who gave the Penguins a physical element to combat abuse suffered by their top stars since being acquired from St. Louis last June.

“Again, that was a player that one of these teams insisted on having, so we had to do it,” Rutherford said.

Rutherford seemed more comfortable giving up the other pieces the Penguins parted with.

Gustavsson is a promising 19-year-old who was named the top goalie in the World Junior Championships this season, and a first-round pick is always valuable. The minor leaguers the Penguins acquired are not highly touted.

“We gave up a lot, but a lot of the things we gave up are futures, and our mandate is to win now,” Rutherford said.

If that's the message he meant to send to his locker room, it was received loud and clear.

“Obviously,” Hornqvist said, “we're going for it.”

Jonathan Bombulie is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jbombulie@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BombulieTrib.