Pittsburgh Penguins' Best Trade Of The Past Year

The altering of the defence last offseason for the Pittsburgh Penguins didn't go as planned as they have only gotten worse in that regard. What has also fallen flat is half of their trade deadline moves as Dmitry Kulikov and Nick Bonino are both listed as week-to-week. So what is the best trade of the past year by the Penguins if so many have been misses?

The Penguins jumped at the opportunity to acquire a good third line center at the deadline as the Nashville Predators were open for business. The Penguins got Mikael Granlund, costing them a second round pick. The 31-year-old may have a cap hit of $5 million which is generally too much for a third line center, but his contract and skillset lines up perfectly with what the Penguins were looking for.

Granlund is under contract for two more seasons after this one and that is the window to win one more time with the veteran Penguins core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang. Seeing how Jeff Carter and the entire third line had not been good for Pittsburgh this season, addressing it with a top-six forward on most teams was a smart way to go. Points-wise, the trade hasn't worked out great for the Penguins thus far, but some players take time to adjust to a new team and Pittsburgh still has two more years of the three-time 60-point getter.