Penguins Get Depth in Stempniak

Finally, my last post from Trade Deadline Day, as the last player in the hockey pool moved at the deadline was Lee Stempniak, formerly of the Calgary Flames. Stempniak was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 3rd round pick.

The Flames were not necessarily supposed to be in a fire sale on Wednesday, but they were expected to move a few of the future unrestricted free agents and they only moved a couple, the only pool player being Stempniak, the other being goaltender Reto Berra, gone to the Avalanche for a 2nd.

The Penguins had their irons in a few fires, if you were to believe the hype surrounding today, but they only came away with some depth, not able to gain any insurance for some of their softer superstars.

In Stempniak, the Penguins will gain some quality depth for their third line, as he is a very gritty winger, with some scoring upside, given that he has been a second line winger for the Flames for a little while now.

In 2014, the 31-year old forward has 8 goals and 15 assists in 51 games for the Flames, ranking 294th in pool scoring to this point in the season.  He immediately becomes an upgrade on a number of wingers that are already in the Penguins' fold and could also bump up in the depth chart, if some more grit is needed with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.

I'm sure that Leo would have preferred this deal to have happened at the beginning of the season, just after the draft.  Maybe Stempniak would have more than 23 points and Leo wouldn't be in last place in the standings?