Fan favorite and two-time Stanley Cup champion Patric Hornqvist will make his return to Pittsburgh this evening. Because of the divisional alignments last year he has yet to be back after his trade to Florida. Hornqvist was one of Jim Rutherford’s better trades as the feisty winger was a good fit with the team.
In 407 regular season games with the Penguins Hornqvist had the same amount of goals as he had assists, 132. In 66 playoff games he had 22 goals and 38 points. Some say his aggressive nature opened the ice up more for both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
I do think the Penguins were right in their logic of moving on from Hornqvist before he ultimately breaks down, but I can’t pretend to say it was a good trade for the team. Instead of shedding his cap hit and gaining flexibility they did the complete opposite and locked themselves into Mike Matheson until the 2025-26 season. The only players on the books for the 2025-26 season at the moment are Matheson, John Marino, and... Jack Johnson. While Matheson has shown improvement via his underlying numbers the last thing the Penguins needed was another mid-tier defense contract with no end in sight. The roster flexibility lost has plagued the team since day one of the trade. The team didn’t get any better and they created depth issues on the wing to address a problem they didn’t have.
The Penguins really needed to be active and clever to keep their contender status going. This was one of the bigger missteps they made, Rutherford’s parting gift if you will. Even though I was in favor of moving Hornqvist I certainly wasn’t endorsing a move for an underachieving player with an unmovable contract. I would have just held on to Hornqvist longer until another more palatable offer came about.
As for tonight, Tristan Jarry will be in net for the Penguins. He will have a new best friend from Florida this evening.
Thanks for reading!
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