Kovalev Back To Penguins

To Penguins:

Alex Kovalev

To Ottawa:

Conditional 7th Round Pick in 2011*

*if the Pens win 1 playoff round and Kovalev plays at least 50 % of the games in that series, the pick becomes 6th-rounder for Ottawa. If they do not win one round, or Kovalev does not play 50% then it remains a 7th round pick.




Review: 
The Penguins like I mentioned earlier were not content with just adding James Neal to their top 6 wingers, they felt they needed at least one more bonafide player. Well, they got just that in this deal as they bring in Alex Kovalev. Kovalev, who turns 38 today, got quite the birthday present getting moved back to the Penguins for his second visit with the club. Although he is definitely getting up there in age, he should be able to put up some points in his new organization. So far he has 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points on the year with the Sens and the total should go up once he starts getting minutes with the Penguins talented squad. His incredible stick handling and offensive ability will be a welcomed addition to their line-up and hopefully for them he will jump start their power play which is currently 15th in the league. This deal has almost no down side for the Penguins as all they had to give up was a 7th round or, depending on how they do in the playoffs, a 6th round pick. He does have a very large cap hit, at $5,000,000 so this deal does prevent them from making any more real impact deals. The Senators lose Kovalev for very little but because he is a pending UFA and really is not going to do anything of importance for this Sens team, that has already packed in the year, they did him a favor and let him go to a contending team. The Senators seem open to any deal that will bring them draft picks so it was expected that's what was going to be coming back in this trade. The conditions on the 7th to 6th round draft pick is that if the Pens win 1 playoff round and Kovalev plays at least 50 % of the games in that series, the pick becomes 6th-rounder for Ottawa. If they do not win one round, or Kovalev does not play 50% then it remains a 7th round pick.


Short-Term Winner: Penguins, they get a very skilled forward that had a great stint in Pittsburgh earlier in his career for relatively nothing. Although he is aging and is not the same player he once was he is exactly what the Pens need right now.


Long-Term Winner: Although Kovalev is not going to be playing in the NHL much longer, the Penguins gave up a pick that had a very small chance to turn into an NHL player let alone one that could help contribute to the team down the stretch. But because of the fact that he is past his prime and will not be playing much longer and the Sens were able to get a future asset for him I will call it EVEN.