The Pittsburgh Penguins have traded high-scoring winger Phil Kessel to the Arizona Coyotes for center Alex Galchenyuk. The teams also swapped minor league defensemen, with Dane Birks headed to Arizona and Pierre-Olivier Joseph coming to Pittsburgh. The Penguins included a 4th round draft choice next year in the deal.
Kessel had 27 goals and 55 assists last year. Galchenyuk scored 19 goals with 22 assists last year. The move opens up about $2 million in salary cap space for the Penguins on the eve of the free agency signing period.
Penguins General manager Jim Rutherford said of Kessel, “I can’t say enough good things about him and I like him personally, but it was just time to just time to make a change with him. He said Kessel had requested a trade several times in the past, but backed off his trade demand each time. Kessel exercised the limited-trade clause in his contract to nix a deal with Minnesota last month. Kessel said yesterday that Rutherford was wrong about his requesting a trade, and told Kessel he would “never be a Penguin again.” Kessel thanked the Penguins fans for their support of him in his four years with the team, two of which ended with him lifting the Stanley Cup. He also thanked his Penguins teammates, whom he called “great guys and a great group.”
