Penguins Trades: Dealing High Draft Picks & the Players Who Got Away (+)

Craig Patrick wasn’t the first Pittsburgh Penguins general manager to trade an early-round draft choice for an established player.

He was, however, the first to do it with the idea of bolstering his lineup for a serious run at the Stanley Cup.

And it worked.

Patrick sent a second-round pick to Calgary on June 16, 1990 for right winger Joe Mullen, who went on to score 153 goals and earn two rings during six seasons with the Penguins.

The Flames used that choice to claim Michigan State defenseman Nicolas Perreault, whose next game in the NHL will be his first.

Now, trades aren’t intended to be zero-sum transactions — if both sides are happy with how an exchange of assets works out, they’re more likely to be willing to deal again in the future — but that one worked out completely in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ favor.

That isn’t always the case, however, as evidenced by the results of ones the Penguins have made so often for more than a decade.