After months of observation, notes, and careful consideration, Penguins general manager Ron Hextall moved into action just before the NHL trade deadline.
Hextall’s job required him to add something to a Penguin team that was at the top of the division but lacked few points beyond their typical front line players. However, he also had very little room to work with a salary cap and only limited assets to offer. It is believed that the top asset, a future first round pick, is voluntarily walking off the exchange table to help boost the youth of the organization.
The answer came in Anaheim forward Rickard Rackell, who Hextall hopes will be the perfect fit for his playoff team.
“We love his skill set,” Hextall said. “He plays with speed; he can play a fast game. So we feel he will fit in very well with our group.”
Hextall has good reason to think so. Rackell has thrived on skill centers including talented young Trevor Zegras this season. Rackelle will likely swap the “young calf” for the “old bull” in Evgeni Malkin, so to speak, but it should fit the style perfectly.
Raquell excels at transitions, using his dashing speed to provoke an attack. This goes well with the game that Malkin excels at. Since returning from knee surgery in January, Malkin has played against no fewer than seven different wingers: Danton Heinen, Kasperi Kapanen, Evan Rodriguez, Jeff Carter, Brock McGinn, Jason Zucker and Brian Rust. Many experiments did not give good results. Rackell offers the coaching staff another option.
“It gives Sally good opportunities on the wings as well as in the middle,” Hextall said.
While Rackell played center early in his NHL career, he found his most successful seasons as a high-scoring winger from 2016-17 to 2017-18 when he scored 67 goals in 148 games.
Upgrading the skills and adding a player with this type of finishing ability was too much for Pens to pass up on a late-development deal that Hextall mentioned he wasn’t sure would come through until today. As always, in order to get something, the team must give something. For a management team that constantly talked about enjoying the chemistry and lineup around it, it seemed like it really hurt Hextall to talk about having to sack Zach Aston-Reese and Dominic Simon.
“If we could keep the two players we transferred, we would love to do it. But in the world of baseball caps, things have to change,” Hextall said. “Then obviously the second round pick and Kalle Klang, Anaheim got a good young goaltender there. It’s one of the deepest parts of the organization, so we felt we could afford to drop it.”
The Pans still have Joel Blomkvist, considered a slightly more promising goaltender than Klang, and under Hextall’s supervision, they signed a pair of highly publicized amateur goaltenders in Philip Lindberg and Taylor Gauthier. The influx of young goalkeeping talent can certainly survive the loss of Klang, who is a talented player in his own right.
But a promising mid-level goaltender and a second-round pick is a small price to pay for adding an NHL scoring forward to playoff playoffs. Thanks to Hextall for finding this and at a price that made sense in every way.
“When you can add a player with Rickard’s resume, put him on our roster – we feel like we’re better now than we were this morning,” Hextall said.
For the bidder, this is the right way to get closer to the deal deadline. Even if it was a careful path and the last minute to get there.