Penguins
TRADE & ANALYSIS: Penguins Deal Pettersson, O’Connor to VAN, Get 1st & More

And just like that, the Pittsburgh Penguins capitalized on the Vancouver Canucks trade with the New York Rangers. General manager Kyle Dubas traded defenseman Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor to Vancouver late Friday night, just before midnight.
Earlier Friday evening, Vancouver rocked the trade market by dealing J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers. As part of Vancouver’s return, they received the Rangers’ 2025 top-13 protected first-round pick. Vancouver promptly sent that first-rounder to the Penguins for Pettersson and O’Connor.
Read More: Final Days as Penguins? How Pettersson, O’Connor Are Handling It (+)
If the Rangers happen to slip to a top-13 pick in 2025, the pick defaults to an unprotected pick in 2026. The Penguins also received winger and former Penguin Danton Heinen, defenseman Vincent Desharnais, and Vancouver’s 2024 third-round pick Melvin Fernstrom.
Pettersson and O’Connor are pending free agents. Both are also quite familiar to the Vancouver management, who led the Penguins when they acquired both Pettersson (via trade with Anaheim) and O’Connor, an undrafted college free agent who worked his way up from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
“Moving two long-time Penguins is never an easy decision,” said Dubas. “Marcus and Drew have competed day-in and day-out for the organization since the day they arrived. Both players are high-quality people, highly competitive players and zero maintenance for their fellow teammates and the staff of the Penguins.”
No salary was retained.
The Penguins have 29 selections over the next three NHL drafts, which includes four first-round selections and 15 picks in the first three rounds. No team has more.
“Tonight’s trade continues to move us in the direction set one year ago, which is to continue to add young prospects, young players, and draft capital to the Penguins as we chart our course to return the club back into contention as urgently as possible,” said Dubas. “We are pleased to add Danton Heinen back to the Penguins and Vincent Desharnais to the club and look forward to seeing both in uniform in the coming days. The addition of Melvin Fernstrom also gives us a prospect that was highly regarded at the 2024 NHL Draft, and the Rangers’ first-round draft pick provides us with another strong asset that we can use to acquire an elite young player in the draft or via trade.”
Full Penguins Trade Analysis
Rutherford always did like the late-night trades.
From Vancouver’s perspective, they traded J.T. Miller to New York for Filip Chytil, Vincent Mancini, Pettersson, and O’Connor.
From Dubas’s side, he filled one BIG need, literally and figuratively, with a right-side defender.
The Penguins get a middle-six winger (Heinen), a hulking physical defenseman (Desharnais), and a first-round pick that could be mid-first round. As if Penguins fans needed a reason to root against the Rangers, they want to see them just miss the playoffs or absolutely tank in 2026.
Heinen, 29, played with the Penguins from 2021-2023. This season, he has 18 points (6-12-18) in 51 games.
In addition to the first-rounder, Desharnais might be the most interesting piece of the trade. He’s a large 6-foot-7, 226-pound, right-handed defender. He likes to hit. He’s primarily known as a net-front clearing d-man, but don’t expect much offense. He has three assists in 51 games this season, and Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet has (rightly) used him as a third-pairing D-man in limited minutes.
He’s not a great defenseman, but the Penguins are desperate for a right-side defender, especially one who can be physical.
Melvin Fernstrom, 18, is not as highly regarded as Dubas suggested. Most scouting reports indicate he lacks compete level, and his skating is subpar. He has eight points (3-5-8) in 35 games with Orebro of the Swedish Elite League.
But that first-rounder.
From a salary cap perspective, the Penguins get a little bit of relief. Heinen counts $2.25 million against the cap this season and next. Desharnais counts $2 million against the cap this year and next. O’Connor and Pettersson cost nearly $5 million combined.
O’Connor has struggled this season, and Dubas acquired a first-rounder for his pair of UFAs. He maximized his return.