Grading Oilers & Penguins’ Stastney-for-Hallander Swap

The Penguins add a defender to bolster their depth on the left side of their blue line, and move on from a forward who likely would’ve been on the outside looking in for the remainder of the season.

For both teams, it gives fresh starts to the players they moved on from. In this article, we give both teams a quick grade.

Oilers Add to Forward Depth After Injury Issues

The Oilers are dealing with injuries to Zach Hyman, Matthew Savoie, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and they were recently dealing with an injury to Jason Dickinson. With all of them being out, adding some firepower to their lineup before they’re fully healthy makes a lot of sense.

Hallander, who is 26 years old, only has 18 games of NHL experience under his belt, where he has seven points. In two games this season, he has scored one goal and added two assists for three points.

He is viewed as a speedy forward with a knack for scoring, which should help the Oilers’ bottom-six. It creates even more internal competition, since players will have to be sent down to the American Hockey League (AHL) when they are healthy.

Hallander has some potential that could end up working out extremely well for the Oilers, so the fact they cleared cap space, added a young forward with potential, and only had to give up a player that wasn’t going to play makes it a really good, low-risk deal for them.

Oilers Grade: A–

Penguins Add Defensive Depth for Low Price

While there has been mixed emotions from Penguins fans on this move, they added defensive depth for a low price. Moving out a forward who wasn’t going to be in their everyday lineup for strengthened depth on their blue line makes it a solid move for them as well.

Hallander may not have been the best option to move, considering he does have strong underlying analytics, but rather than losing him for nothing, they add someone in Stastney who can be a stable addition.

Stastney, who is 26 years old, hasn’t played a game yet this season, but has 117 games of NHL experience under his belt. In that time, he has scored four goals and added 15 assists for 19 points. He is more of a defensive-minded defender, and will likely remain in a bottom-pairing role with the Penguins.

Penguins Grade: A-

It was a good move for both teams, who add depth where they need it, and clear another position that they had too many of. For now, there is no team that did better, but time will tell if either team comes out on top as a clear “winner” of the deal.

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