Penguins Snag Two Placeholders from Involvement in Brandon Carlo Trade

The Brandon Carlo deal ended up wrapping the Penguins into the proceedings, as they landed a pair of Maple Leafs players in the three team deal involving Toronto and Boston.

Conor Timmins is a 26 year-old defenseman in his sixth year in the NHL. He is on an expiring $1.1M contract that will be up at the end of the year. This is undoubtedly a placeholder move to give the Penguins a body at the blue line for the remainder of the season.

Timmins has eight points (two goals, six assists) in 51 games this season with the Maple Leafs, his longest single-season stint in the NHL in his career.

Connor Dewar, 25, is also at the end of an expiring deal at a $1.18M cap hit. He, like Timmins, is a placeholder to replace the likes of Cody Glass and Anthony Beauvillier, whom were traded before the NHL Trade Deadline.

Dewar has been fairly irrelevant in his time in the NHL. His best season came last year between the Minnesota Wild and the Toronto Maple Leafs where he scored 11 goals, 10 with Minnesota before being traded.

Being held off the goal sheet this season, Dewar has just three assists in 31 games while averaging under 10 minutes of ice time a game.

For the Penguins, the move is supplemental to the trades they made around the deadline. They need bodies on the ice to finish out the final month of the season.

In all likelihood, both Timmins and Dewar will not be Penguins next season, and that's okay. Acquiring a few placeholders is a good move by Kyle Dubas to keep the WBS Penguins together for what's likely to be a deep Calder Cup Playoff run.

Let the prospects succeed in the AHL while the team in Pittsburgh fights for that top draft pick.