CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Ron Hextall said prior to Monday's trade deadline that he'd ideally like to add some depth at forward to the Penguins' roster.
He did.
The Penguins acquired right-handed winger Rickard Rakell from the Ducks in the waning moments of Monday's 3 p.m. NHL trade deadline.
Rakell, 28, is in the final year of a contract that carries a cap hit of $3,789,444. The Ducks will retain 35 percent of Rakell's cap hit, leaving the Penguins on the hook for the remaining $2,463,139 hit. His 16 goals through 51 games were tied for the second-most on the Ducks this season, and his 28 points ranked seventh.
The return going to Anaheim is forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Dominik Simon, a 2022 second-round pick and goaltender prospect Calle Clang, the Penguins' 2020 third-round pick.
It was a hefty price, especially with the future assets. But it was one that Hextall, who opened his press conference with a statement thanking Aston-Reese and Simon for their time in the Penguins' organization, was willing to pay given its anticipated impact.
"We know we have a good team," said Hextall. "We believe we're going to make the playoffs and we just wanted to add a piece. But it had to fit, it had to make us a better team. What we're giving up had to make sense. A second round pick and Calle Clang, Calle's a good young goalie. Anaheim got a good young goalie there. (Goaltending) is one of the deeper parts of the organization, so we felt like we could afford to give it up. But we certainly didn't want to."
Though Hextall did want to add forward depth, he said that as the deadline approached, he didn't feel like he had to add anything, nor did anybody else in management. He also acknowledged the realities of the salary cap, with the Rakell deal only made possible by both sending two roster players out and having the Ducks retain salary, necessary moves given that Jason Zucker is expected to come off of long-term injured reserve during the regular season.
By adding Rakell -- a player who had back-to-back 30-goal seasons in 2016-17 and 2017-18 -- the Penguins address the need for more depth scoring. Though Hextall called it "(Mike Sullivan)'s problem" when it comes to where Rakell actually fits into the lineup, Rakell is a winger that could potentially play on Evgeni Malkin's wing. Rakell had been playing on the right side of the Ducks' second line along two highly-skilled players in Sonny Milano and Trevor Zegras.
"If we could have kept the two players that we moved, we would love to," Hextall said. "But in a cap world, things have to change. We felt like our secondary scoring has been a little bit of an issue. It's came to life a little bit lately, but I think whenever you can add to it, we think Rickard adds a lot to our group in terms of the skill part of the game. He really makes our top nine, and our top 12 a lot deeper. It gives Sully some good options on the wings, and also in the middle."
The Penguins are hopeful that Rakell will be in Pittsburgh and ready to be in the lineup for Tuesday evening's game against the Blue Jackets at PPG Paints Arena. Whenever he does find his way into the Penguins' lineup, Rakell will continue wearing his No. 67, with Radim Zohorna agreeing to switch to No. 63 to accommodate him.
The Rakell deal was the second trade the Penguins made on deadline day, after acquiring depth defenseman Nathan Beaulieu from the Jets in exchange for a conditional seventh-round pick,
Hextall feels that with these moves, the Penguins now have a better chance at making a real run in the postseason.
"We really like this team," Hextall said. "I know there's a few teams that obviously have a chance of doing something special, but we feel like our chances are better now than they were yesterday."
