Penguins make Father Time biggest rival with Petry-Matheson trade

An already-noteworthy Penguins defenseman trade involving John Marino and Ty Smith was apparently just part of the puzzle. Following a trade headlined by Michael Matheson going to the Canadiens and Jeff Petry heading to Pittsburgh, the Penguins larger defensive shuffling comes into focus.

It also only hammers home something that was already true. The Penguins and Father Time are primed for an epic battle over the next few (several?) years.

Penguins trade for: Jeff Petry (34, $6.25 million cap hit through 2024-25) and Ryan Poehling (25, $750K for one season)

Canadiens receive: Mike Matheson (28, $4.875M through 2025-26) and a 2023 fourth-round pick.

John Marino is a 25-year-old right-handed defenseman with strong defensive results and mixed offense that’s trended downward lately. He’s fairly cheap ($4.4M), which could be especially appealing if you agree, as his contract runs through 2026-27.

Matheson is quite a bit younger than Petry, too. In the end, the Penguins swapped out Matheson (left-handed) and Marino (right-handed) for Ty Smith (left-handed reclamation project) and Petry (right-handed).

But age is the more interesting factor than handedness (which, it must be said, teams sometimes obsess about with defensemen).

Both Petry and Sidney Crosby are 34, while Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are 35. For every 27-year-old Jake Guentzel, there’s another 30-year-old in a prominent spot, like Bryan Rust or Brian Dumoulin.

By name recognition alone, Jeff Petry is the biggest piece in these interconnected trades. The Penguins are banking on him maintaining a high level play, even as he’s slipped from borderline-Norris-material to “just” very, very good.

Jeff Petry, traded to PIT, is a veteran offensive defenceman who loves to