Hextall: 'I like the look of our team' after adding Bonino, Kulikov

CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Ron Hextall was up late Thursday night looking to improve his team in advance of Friday's 3 p.m. trade deadline.

Now past the deadline, he feels as if he did just that.

The Penguins have acquired an old friend in center Nick Bonino from the Sharks in exchange for a conditional fifth-round pick in 2024 and a seventh-round pick in 2023. The Sharks will also receive defenseman Arvid Henriksson from the Canadiens, who are receiving defenseman Tony Sund and San Jose's fifth-round pick in 2024 for retaining 50% of Bonino's $2.05 million cap hit. The conditional fifth-round pick going to the Sharks becomes a fourth-round pick if the Penguins advance to the Eastern Conference Final in 2023.

"The addition of Nick — Nick’s played a lot of wing this year," Hextall said of Bonino when speaking with reporters at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex Friday, "but he can also play the middle, he can kill penalties, he can take faceoffs."

Bonino, 34, will count $1.025 million against the salary cap for the Penguins before he becomes an unrestricted free agent over the summer. He has 10 goals and nine assists in 59 games with respectable defensive metrics this season. He is on his way to meet the Penguins in Florida before their matchup with the Panthers Saturday night.

This will be his second stint with the Penguins, his first coming during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons when he won back-to-back Stanley Cups.

Additionally, the Penguins have acquired defenseman Dmitry Kulikov from the Ducks. The return heading the other way is Brock McGinn and a third-round pick in 2024. The Ducks are taking on the entirety of McGinn's $2.75 million cap hit for the remainder of his contract that runs through the 2024-25 season. They will also be retaining 50% of Kulikov's $2.25 million cap hit that expires at the end of the season.

"I think Dmitry, when you watch his game all year, he plays both sides. That’s important," Hextall said. "We felt like left-shot D, if we lose one guy with (Xavier) Ouellet being out for the year, we could’ve been in trouble. (Mark Friedman) can play over there, but we don’t have another left shot. We felt like that was a need."

Kulikov, 32, is a defensive-minded defenseman with three goals and 12 assists in 61 games this season. He's been thrust into some pretty tough minutes on a brutal Ducks team this season. His on-ice results have suffered because of it. Prior to this season, however, Kulikov had a pretty nice track record of solid defensive impacts in a smaller role than he had in Anaheim. Assuming he's used as nothing more than a third-pairing defender with the Penguins, it's a safe assumption that his impact at both ends of the ice will see an uptick. 

"He’s a heavy player, he’s got a good defensive presence, he can kill penalties," Hextall said. "So, we’re excited about that."

The addition of Kulikov brought the Penguins to 10 defensemen who, theoretically, could be playing in the NHL right now: Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin, Marcus Pettersson, Jeff Petry, P.O Joseph, Jan Rutta, Kulikov, Chad Ruhwedel, Ty Smith and Friedman. That said, it was never Hextall's intention to move on from one of them after bringing in Kulikov.

"No, we did not want to," Hextall said, shooting down the idea. "We lost (Xavier) Ouellet pretty much for the year in the minors. He was a good depth player for us. Ty Smith is hurt right now with a facial fracture. So we felt like our depth on D is somewhere we had to enhance versus going the other way, and that’s why we made the move with Dmitry and held everything else."

Now that he's acquired Bonino and Kulikov, in addition to Mikael Granlund on Wednesday, Hextall feels as though the Penguins are among the group of teams capable of competing for a Stanley Cup.

"I think that we made our team better today, and I think there’s a lot of teams that are capable of winning the Cup. And yes, I’d say we’re one of them," he said. "I think the number of teams that are capable is a lot greater than it used to be. With the salary cap and the way teams are constructed nowadays, I think a lot of teams load it up, and it’ll be interesting to see how those teams do. There’s some good teams out there, for sure. 

"We’ve got a proven group, we’ve got a hungry group, and we’ve got a group of guys who we all think of as winners. You gotta make the playoffs first, and right now that’s our objective, and then we’ll see where we go from there. But I feel good about this team."

MORE FROM HEXTALL

• Both Drew O'Connor and Drake Caggiula were re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the AHL Friday morning. For any player to be sent down to the AHL the rest of the season, they had to be on an AHL roster by 3 p.m. Friday. Sending both players down checked that box, and also gave Hextall some wiggle room for potential trades, as the Penguins opened two roster spots and freed up cap space. The 23-man roster limit goes away on Saturday.

Hextall confirmed O'Connor will rejoin the team on Saturday and that the Penguins are salary cap compliant.

• Speaking of, the general manager is quite pleased with what O'Connor has brought to the table as of late.

"I think Drew’s played extremely well for us," he said. "You guys probably saw the goal last night, but I think he’s played as good of hockey as he’s played recently for us. We’re excited about Drew."

• Hextall started his press conference off by thanking both Teddy Blueger (traded to the Golden Knights Wednesday) and McGinn for their contributions as Penguins.

"Teddy Blueger, I think everybody knows how valuable he was to this organization, and we would like to wish him the best, and certainly thank him for everything he did for the organization," he said. "Secondly, Brock McGinn. We were able to move Brock today to Anaheim. Putting Brock down in the minors would’ve been tough for us. He’s a good player, he’s a good person, and we’re certainly thrilled it worked out for the Penguins and also for Brock. Same sentiments to Brock — Thanks for everything he did for us and we wish him the best."

• The Penguins have liked Granlund's game for a while. In fact, Hextall said they tried acquiring him two trade deadlines ago. He also mentioned that several other general managers around the league told him they'd been trying to land Granlund.

"I think Mikael Granlund is a really smart player," he said. "When you start looking at your lines, you look for guys that kind of connect the dots and make plays, that make the really intelligent plays. Very intelligent player. He can find guys when they’re open, he’s a very responsible defensive player, he can play all three positions. So, when you’re trying to to tweak a line, you’re looking for a guy that has some versatility, and that’s what we feel Mikael brings there. We’re thrilled with the addition of Mikael."

• Hextall isn't quite sure whether Granlund will end up at center or on the wing, he just wanted to provide Mike Sullivan with some flexibility.

"In terms of the centers, what I like to do is supply the coaches with is as many centers as possible, because a lot of centers — like Mikael is a great example," he said. "Guy can play all three positions, but it’s hard to move guys who’ve played wing their whole life into the middle and expect them to do the job there." 

• He'd never say so otherwise, but Hextall reassured that he's on the same page with Sullivan when it comes to what this team should look like.

"We meet with our coaches pretty much on a daily basis," he said. "We’ve had big, group meetings together to talk about the possible options out there. The coaches, they’ve gotta be part of the process in terms of the players. When everybody’s aligned, then you feel good about things that you’re doing. I think we all felt like we could add some depth on D and augment our bottom six, and that’s what we did. I think our whole group, whether it be my management staff, the scouts, the coaches, were on the same page."