Brent traded for Danny Richmond

The Penguins today traded forward Tim Brent to Chicago for 23 year old defenseman Danny Richmond.

Richmond has played 49 career NHL games and was originally picked 31st overall in the 2003 draft (one pick before Ryan Stone) by Carolina. He was traded with a 4th round pick in 2006 to Chicago for Anton Babchuk.

Not too much to make of this deal, two teams swapping fringe NHL players--both of whom are restricted free agents and might be looking to stick on a new team. For Richmond though, the task is daunting, as the Penguins have 8 NHL established defensemen on their roster currently, plus impressive prospect Alex Goligoski.

Ray Shero has said he likes to have 10 capable defenseman, and this move gives him that. But by trading Brent, a true center unlike Stone and Jonathan Filewich, this makes it more likely that Kris Beech may be able to stick on the Pens NHL roster. Gah.

The shape of the Wilkes-Barre Baby Pens roster is forming too, and they seem to be solid, if not spectacular. With presumably Goligoski and Richmond on the backline in the 'A', they'll also have TJ Kemp, Deryk Engelland, Joey Mormina, Ben Lovejoy, Jon D'Aversa and perhaps Paul Bissonnette as defenseman. Overall a pretty young and skilled defensive group.

Does this deal signal an idea for another trade down the line--such as the rumored disposal of veteran Darryl Sydor? It appears for now it's going to be a wait and see situation, but the Pens definitely have the defensive depth to go in any direction they choose. And if that choice is to take that reasonably solid organizational depth into the season, well that ought to be a good one for the on ice performance for the big and farm team.

Congrats Baby Pens

Understandably lost in the shuffle with that other Penguins team going far in the playoffs, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have won the AHL's Eastern Conference. So they win the prestigious Richard Canning trophy (props to JB for that).

The Baby Pens won a game seven against Portland by defeating former Pen (and not a Sweater Ted favorite) Jean-Sebastien Aubin. Aubin is a great goalie at the AHL level and made 37 saves on 40 shots before an unstoppable bid by Tim Brent won it. That alone would be impressive, but consider that Aubin missed the previous four games with an undisclosed lower-body injury and spotted in a walking cast. Tip of the cap to him.

Brent has been one of the stars of the AHL playoffs, he leads the league in goals (11 in 17 games and is tied second in points (20). Similarly awesome has been rookie Alex Goligoski who is also in that tie for second place in scoring (Golly has 3 goals and 17 assists in 17 games). Goligoski also leads all defensemen in playoff points.

The opponent in the finals is the always dangerous Chicago Wolves. They are Atlanta's farm team and seem to always stock up on the experienced players that are good at the AHL level but don't have much NHL aspiration. Of Chicago's top eight playoff scorers just one (Brian Little) is under the age of 25. The Baby Pens, by comparison, have five of their top eight scorers (Brent, Goligoski, Ryan Stone, Connor James, Mark Ardelan) coming in under 25 years old.

Since Ty Conklin's callup, Wilkes-Barre has relied on two very young and untested goalies (John Curry and Dave Brown). Curry, an undrafted player in his second year with the Pens organ-eye-zation, emerged as the man and has played like it; boasting a 12-5 record, 2.48 GAA and 90.8 save percentage. One area Chicago is young at is the goaltending position where Ondrej Pavelec, a 20 year old former second round pick, is the 'tender.

We don't follow the AHL that closely, so we haven't (and won't) be making a prediction. And with the Pens in the Stanley Cup finals, the Calder Cup isn't on our radar that much. However it's good to see the success on the farm and hopefully the boys can keep it rolling.