Instant React: What the Bunting and Desharnais trades mean for the Penguins

The deadline is heating up!

The Pittsburgh Penguins got the wheels in motion for their trade deadline plans on Wednesday night. In two separate trades, the Pens sent Michael Bunting and newly-acquired Vincent Desharnais out the door to Nashville and San Jose, respectively.

In return, the Pens pick up Tommy Novak, Luke Schenn. They also come out virtually even on draft picks, giving up a fourth rounder in 2026 and picking up a fifth rounder in 2028.

To start with the more minor of the deals, Desharnais was a piece of the Marcus Pettersson trade a few weeks ago to balance out salaries and make the deal possible. Desharnais is signed for next season with a $2.0 million cap hit. He didn’t play well in Vancouver to start the year and through 10 games in Pittsburgh did nothing to show much improvement.

Getting a fifth round pick for an NHL caliber player is almost as low as it goes, some teams charge more to retain cap space for a short amount of time to facilitate deals (like Detroit did today picking up a fourth round pick). And it’s due all the way in the 2028 draft. The purpose of the deal was to move along a player who wasn’t in the plans and get onto the next.

Could that next be Luke Schenn? Like Desharnais, it’s a veteran, physical right shot defenseman. Schenn is signed next season as well, at a $2.75 million cap hit. Schenn, 35, has two Stanley Cups (with Tampa in 2020 and 2021). He was acquired by Kyle Dubas in 2023 at the trade deadline for Toronto. Schenn profiles a lot higher than Desharnais as far as value to other teams goes, they probably will be able to get a decent piece back in a trade for him. Whether that’s in the next two days or in the next 12 months remains to be seen, but it is a very interesting addition.

It’s already starting to float out there that Schenn’s stay in Pittsburgh might be even shorter than Desharnais’ was.

The other add, Tommy Novak, is the biggest key to the puzzle for the Penguins. He will join former Predator forwards Philip Tomasino and Cody Glass in Pittsburgh. Novak, 27, carries a $3.5 million cap hit through 2026-27. He’s signed for that long and at a decent amount because he scored 43 points in 51 games with Nashville in 2022-23 and 45 points in 71 games in 2023-24. Like many Predators, it has not been a good season this year (Novak has 13 goals and nine assists in 52 games).

Beyond the boxcar stats, analytically Novak is a player beloved in the advanced stat world for his impacts. Even this year in a down season statistically, his WAR% remains high and he’s played a lot of center. As a career 15.4% center, he’s also a player who has had no problem converting chances into actual goals.

Bunting had ups and downs this season, settling into a good role and rhythm after a bumpy start to the year that saw him become a healthy scratch at one point. And, for whatever reason (likely related to the metrics of poor in-zone passing and lack of playmaking/assists), Bunting’s style did not mesh with Sidney Crosby at all and the two rarely played together. No sense in keeping a top-six player that didn’t work out with Crosby, so the Pens moved quickly to flip Bunting mainly for Novak.

Here’s what was said on NHL Network shortly after the trade about the potential in Novak as a buy low option.

After these deals the Pens still have $11 million in cap space, according to Puck Pedia and one salary trade retention spot available.

Overall, at least for now, Pittsburgh has likely marginally improved their right defense by swapping Desharnais for Schenn (with the kicker that Schenn also ought to have much higher trade value) and will hope that Novak can bounce back with a change of scenery to become a capable scorer for them in the middle of the lineup. Tonight’s moves won’t be sweeping changes and can’t be viewed as such but are the latest in what will be a long series of transactions to start shaping their 2025-26 team and beyond.

If Wednesday night proved anything, it’s that the team is certainly wide open for business and willing to flip supporting players around. They still have the big piece left in Rickard Rakell who could be one of the top forwards available on the trade market.