With star center Sidney Crosby still sidelined with an injury and forward Evgeni Malkin beginning a suspension, the Pittsburgh Penguins, who host the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon, decided to go big at Friday’s trade deadline.
How big? Try 6-foot-8, 252 pounds big.
The Penguins acquired forward Elmer Soderblom from the Detroit Red Wings for a third-round draft pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. Soderblom, who has two goals and an assist in 39 games, comes in just one inch below the tallest man to play in the NHL, Hall of Famer Zdeno Chara, and will add some beef to the Pittsburgh front line.
Crosby, who sustained a right leg injury in the Olympics playing for Team Canada on a hit by Czechia’s Radko Gudas, was back skating in non-contact drills during Friday’s optional practice but is expected to miss a few more games. Pittsburgh will be without Malkin for a while after he received a major match penalty for slashing Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin across the jaw with his stick in Thursday’s 5-1 loss to the Sabres.
Malkin, second on the team in points with 47, including 13 goals, was suspended for five games Friday night following a phone hearing with the Department of Player Safety on Friday night. It is the longest suspension of his career, topping the four games he sat out in 2022 for cross-checking Nashville’s Mark Borowiecki.
Pittsburgh is in second place heading into the game with the Flyers but has dropped back-to-back games in regulation for the first time since Jan. 10-11.
Penguins coach Dan Muse had one message for his team after the loss to the Sabres: “Be pissed off. I don’t want anybody walking out of today saying this is OK. You also have to be quick to turn the page. So you get home, get some sleep, you get to the rink tomorrow.
“We’ve got to look at ways that we can be better,” Muse added. “There’s going to be games where things don’t go our way. I thought that was the case for different factors (Thursday), and we’ve got to make sure that we’re focusing in and staying level.”
The Flyers, six points behind Boston for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot with 21 games to go, became sellers at the trade deadline. Philadelphia sent forward Bobby Brink, who has 13 goals and 13 assists in 55 games, to the Minnesota Wild for defenseman David Jiricek and also traded enforcer Nicolas Deslauriers to the Carolina Hurricanes for a conditional seventh- round 2027 draft pick.
The 6-foot-4, 204-pound Jiricek, 22, originally the sixth overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft by Columbus, has split time between Wild and AHL affiliate Iowa. He will report to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL.
The Flyers are also looking for a bounce-back game Saturday following a 3-0 home loss to Utah on Thursday. Philadelphia matched a season low with 16 shots on goal in the contest.
“It’s one of those games where you have a tough time saying who had a good game,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet said. “It was one of those games where we didn’t push back. Tough to swallow. Got to regroup.”
This is the final of four regular-season meetings between the two teams. Pittsburgh has won two of the first three, including a 6-3 victory in the last meeting on Jan. 15 in Pittsburgh.
–Field Level Media
