{"id":438310,"date":"2024-07-01T14:37:12","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T18:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=438310"},"modified":"2024-07-01T14:37:12","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T18:37:12","slug":"pittsburgh-penguins-part-ways-with-veteran-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/07\/01\/pittsburgh-penguins-part-ways-with-veteran-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Penguins Part Ways with Veteran Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This off-season the<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/06\/29\/kevin-hayes-trade-to-pittsburgh-penguins\/\" target=\"_self\"> Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> have made a deal within the Metropolitan Division. After making a big splash for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/karlser01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-03_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Erik Karlsson<\/a>, the goal was to make a deep run. Also, the team acquired <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/smithre01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-03_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reilly Smith<\/a> in a trade but has now flipped him at the start of free agency. The Penguins have dealt Smith to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/07\/01\/8-year-nhl-veteran-signs-three-year-deal-with-new-york-rangers\/\" target=\"_self\">New York Rangers<\/a> and will get 2025 fifth-round pick and 2027 seventh-round pick in this move. Pittsburgh will also retain 25-percent of Smith&#8217;s $5 million salary.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Penguins have acquired a 2027 second-round draft pick and a 2025 fifth-round draft pick from the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Reilly Smith. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/O90b9Bc6FW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/O90b9Bc6FW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/penguins\/status\/1807840364927033662?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 1, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Penguins Trade Smith to the Rangers<\/h2>\n<p>With what is a stellar year for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/crosbsi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-03_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sidney Crosby<\/a> is going down the drain. Whatever the case may be, the Penguins were not in the playoff mix. That had General Manager Kyle Dubas making moves this off-season. The core of Crosby, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/malkiev01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-03_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Evgeni Malkin<\/a>, Karlsson, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/letankr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-03_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kris Letang<\/a> will stay put but numerous players are on the table.<\/p>\n<p>Smith came off a Stanley Cup victory with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/07\/01\/nhl-rumours-vegas-golden-knights-forward-to-hit-market\/\" target=\"_self\">Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> and was ready to help the Penguins get back into the mix. Although, it\u2019s been a down year for Smith, as he had 13 goals and 40 points. He has been alongside Malkin all season long. However, selling Smith makes sense for them going forward.<\/p>\n<h3>What This Means<\/h3>\n<h4>For the Penguins<\/h4>\n<p>Sadly, the Smith trade makes sense for the Penguins. It is hard to envision where this team ends up going forward. The core they have is still playing at a high enough level to make a run but time is not on their side. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/03\/07\/the-team-from-carolina-wins-jake-guentzel-lottery\/\" target=\"_self\">Dubas moved on<\/a> from star winger <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/guentja01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-03_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jake Guentzel <\/a>at the trade deadline. Capitalizing on returns is a wise move for Dubas, but changes also couldcontinue in Pittsburgh as well.<\/p>\n<h4>For the Rangers<\/h4>\n<p>This Reilly Smith trade makes sense for the Blueshirts. Smith is a player that is capable of scoring 20 goals in a season and is a player that can be a difference maker in the playoffs. He brings a winning pedigree and also can play anywhere in the lineup. Smith does not have to be the guy on this team but a great complimentary piece. It is a shame that things didn\u2019t work out in Pittsburgh, but a great add for this team.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This off-season the Pittsburgh Penguins have made a deal within the Metropolitan Division. After making a big splash for Erik Karlsson, the goal was to make a deep run. Also, the team acquired Reilly Smith in a trade but has now flipped him at the start of free agency. The Penguins have dealt Smith to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4194,"featured_media":438314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4547,14,34,4548,12],"tags":[6259,6022],"class_list":["post-438310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hockey","category-rangers","category-news","category-nhl","category-penguins","tag-new-york-rangers-news","tag-pittsburgh-penguins-news"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}