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The Pittsburgh Penguins just recently announced that they’ve traded defenseman Ben Lovejoy to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
Lovejoy, who has been with the Pittsburgh organization since signing as a free agent back in July 2008, has been a healthy scratch from the Penguins lineup for the past few games. It doesn’t come as a big surprise that they dealt him, but what is surprising is that it was for a draft pick. The depth of the Penguins prospect pool would make it seem unlikely they would want any additional draft picks, so to trade Lovejoy for one is somewhat unexpected.
With their core players like Kris Letang, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and James Neal being in their prime now, it would make more sense for the Penguins to trade for a player who will help them make a legitimate run for the Stanley Cup right now. But Pittsburgh’s general manager, Ray Shero, may just have something up his sleeve and this could be part of bigger things ahead.
Lovejoy played 98 games with the Penguins and in those games, he’s scored four goals and earned 21 assists for a total of 25 points.
With this recent move, the Penguins have an open NHL roster spot. It was announced shortly after Lovejoy was dealt that they recalled defenseman Dylan Reese from their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre Scranton. Reese is an Upper St. Clair native and is the fourth local player to play for the Penguins, following Ryan Malone, Bill Thomas, and Nate Guenin.
Stephanie Lewark is a featured Pittsburgh Penguins columnist for www.RantSports.com. If you enjoy her articles / posts, you can follow her on Twitter (@steelcitysports), check out her personal Facebook page (via Networked Blogs), visit her personal Tumblr page, or stop by her Pinterest page.
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