It's always fun to look back at trades and see who managed to get the most out of the assets they acquired. Unfortunately, the return on investment won't be readily known for a while with the Penguins with all the draft capital they secured at the trade deadline.
Still, let's check in on the players Pittsburgh shipped off and see how they've fared since leaving the black and gold.
Anthony Beauvillier
Beau was traded to the Washington Capitals in exchange for a 2025 2nd round pick. He's fit in nicely with the Capitals' high flying offense with two goals and three assists in just nine games.
That's a substantial increase in point-per-game production compared to his short stint with Pittsburgh. Capitals fans have enjoyed his presence and he's been a solid contributor on what's looking to be a Stanley Cup contendor.
Michael Bunting
Bunting was in the midst of recovering from appendix surgery and was out indefinitely at the time the Penguins traded him to the Nashville Predators for Tommy Novak and Luke Schenn.
Bunts has two goals and an assist in eight games with a -6 rating since returning to the ice. It's pretty hard to do anything substantial with Nashville this season. They're cursed this year for whatever reason. Bunting has been a non-factor in these meaningless games for the Preds.
Luke Schenn
Speaking of Luke Schenn, remember when he was a Pittsburgh Penguin? No? Don't worry, I don't either.
Kyle Dubas promptly flipped him to Winnipeg for a 2026 2nd rounder and a 2027 4th rounder. Meanwhile, he has an assist in eight games and actually has a positive +/- at +3, something he's not known for. Otherwise, his Corsi% is 37.2%, which is remarkably bad.
To get anything for him is impressive, and the Penguins got a reasonably early round pick next year.
Vincent Desharnais
The lumbering Vincent Desharnais has been kept off the scoresheet in his seven games since joining the San Jose Sharks. He's averaging almost 18 minutes of ice time with the bottom-feeder, by far the most in any stop in his short career.
The compensation for Pittsburgh was a 2028 5th rounder. Fairly inconsequential, but that's standard with the fairly inconsequential player Desharnais seems to be.
Cody Glass
This one was looking to be a bad trade for Pittsburgh shortly after it was made. Glass was shipped off to the New Jersey Devils for a 2027 3rd round pick and two lower-level prospects.
Since joining the Devils, Glass has two goals and four asssits in eight games and a +6 rating. He scored in his first game with his new club and then again against Pittsburgh in the Penguins' 7-3 win two weeks ago.
His three points in three games to start his Jersey tenure had Devils fans talking nicely about Glass, but since his hot start the Devils are just 1-3-1. Glass has certainly not been the reason they're losing, in fact he might have bought them some wins early on.
Marcus Pettersson and Drew O'Connor
The Dragon flew cross-continent to the far west reaches of Canada when the Penguins sent him and Drew O'Connor to Vancouver for a 1st round pick as well as a few placeholders. The trade took place well before the deadline, so we get to see more fleshed out numbers with this deal.
As for Petey, he's got seven assists in 22 games while averaging over 20 minutes of ice time. The numbers are honestly pound-for-pound what he was doing with Pittsburgh before he was traded. Of course, Petey's trademark is consistency, and he's been as such in his new sweater.
Drew O'Connor specifically had me a little frustrated with his play after joining a new team. Days before he was traded, he missed a crucial penalty shot in what could have tied the game against the San Jose Sharks in late January.
Then, just over a week later, he buried an overtime penalty shot against...the San Jose Sharks to win the game for the Canucks. How poetic.
Other than his obvious bias against helping the Penguins win, DOC has four goals and four assists in 22 games since the trade.
He's creeping up on his season goal total with Pittsburgh in half the games. With his greatest "strength" being goal scoring, it's funny how he's almost done it more with another team in half the time than with the Penguins.
Closing Thoughts
I think it's important to juxtapose the quality of players the Penguins shipped off with the draft capital they received. Respectively, this was an incredible bull market for Kyle Dubas to take advantage of this deadline.
The returns the Penguins received for middling-tier players are still encouraging even weeks after the fact, and I'm projecting that they'll continue to look even better once the Penguins start drafting the future of the black and gold in the upcoming draft.