CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The Penguins added some depth to their blue line overnight leading up to Monday's 3 p.m. trade deadline.
Ron Hextall announced on Monday morning that the Penguins acquired left-handed defenseman Nate Beaulieu from the Jets in exchange for a conditional seventh-round pick.
Per CapFriendly, the conditions necessarily for the pick to transfer are the Penguins winning three playoff series with Beaulieu playing in at least half of those playoff games. Otherwise, Winnipeg gets nothing.
Beaulieu, 29, is 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds and was a first-round pick of the Canadiens in 2011.
Beaulieu is in the final year of a contract that carries a $1.25 million cap hit, and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. He has been on LTIR with an unspecified lower-body retroactive to March 4 after a collision with the Stars' Ryan Suter in a game. He's not eligible to come off of LTIR until the Penguins' game against the Rangers on March 29 at the very earliest.
Hextall said following Monday's trade deadline that they still expect Beaulieu to be out "awhile." Brian Burke told TSN earlier in the day that they expect to have Beaulieu for the playoffs.
Beaulieu being on long-term injured reserve does not free up any additional cap space for the Penguins. The cap relief they get is equal to what Beaulieu now counts toward the Penguins' cap. The net difference is zero. Even if Beaulieu is out for the remainder of the regular season, this does not gain the Penguins any more room. The only benefit in that case would be essentially adding a free defenseman in the playoffs, when there is no cap.
Beaulieu has played in 24 games this season, missing some time earlier in the season with COVID-19 and a different lower-body injury in late January that sidelined him for three weeks. He's been a healthy scratch for 21 of the Jets' games. He's recorded four assists and a minus-7 plus/minus in his 24 games.
Hextall said Beaulieu's "physical, rugged nature" is what attracted the Penguins to him.
"He plays a real hard game, physical, boxing out and things," Hextall said. "We felt like he was a good fit with our group."
Beaulieu fought Brian Boyle in the Penguins' game against the Jets in January, answering for a hit on Brock McGinn:
I asked Boyle after practice if he's ever been in a situation before where he becomes teammates with a guy not long after fighting him, and Boyle spoke of his respect for players like Beaulieu in his answer.
"I think it's an important part of the game," Boyle said of fighting. "There's a respect there when guys are willing to do it. I know I played with a guy and then we both went our separate ways, I think we fought three times after that. Then we played together again. You keep in touch, ask how his family's doing, then when the puck drops it changes, you play the game. That's part of it. We play for our teammates, for our livelihoods, for our families. Sometimes you have to fight when you're on your team. (Beaulieu) is obviously a heavy guy, a tough kid, and it's exciting to see what he can bring."
Per ARHockeyStats, Beaulieu's advanced metrics in nearly every category are less-than-stellar, with the numbers here representing where he is percentile-wise in the NHL:
Mike Sullivan said that he thinks Beaulieu brings the Penguins a "different dimension."
"He has an edge to his game," Sullivan said. "He'll bring us some physicality back there. He adds more depth to the group that we already have. It just gives us more flexibility and more depth, which is critically important with some of the hockey that we have in front of us. He certainly without a doubt just makes us a little bit stronger back there with a with a little bit more versatility."
Beaulieu was asked earlier this month about whether the impending trade deadline is on his mind.
"I'm a Jet, so I'm trying to push to make the playoffs," he said. "The goal at the beginning of the season every year is to try to get in, and it's a bitter taste in your mouth when you don't get in. You work so hard over a long season and put so much into it. I'm going out there and trying to win hockey games."
He'll have a chance to do that in Pittsburgh later this spring.
