Drive to the Net: What are Penguins getting in Bemstrom?

Kyle Dubas said in his pre-trade deadline media availability at the Lemieux Complex on Wednesday that the Penguins "need to get younger."

He might have accomplished that to a small degree with the trade he made on Thursday evening.

The Penguins acquired 24-year-old forward Emil Bemstrom from the Blue Jackets, sending AHL forward Alex Nylander and a conditional sixth-round pick in 2026 the other way. Per Blue Jackets reporter Aaron Portzline, the conditions on that sixth-round pick are that it becomes a third-round pick in the same draft if Bemstrom scores at least six goals with the Penguins this season.

Goals are a less-common but not unheard of measure to use for conditional trades. Six goals may seem oddly specific, but it's simply the number of goals he's on pace to add to his totals if he plays the rest of the season, plus one goal.

Bemstrom is in the last year of a one-way contract that carries a $900,000 cap hit, and has been waivers-eligible since last season as a byproduct of his signing age and experience. He will be a restricted free agent at the end of this season.

What are the Penguins getting in Bemstrom? Let's break it down.

Bemstrom, listed at 6 feet and 195 pounds, is capable of playing all three forward positions and shoots right. Most of his 32 games in the NHL with Columbus this season have been on the right side of the Blue Jackets' third line, though he has played games on the left wing or in the top-six.

Bemstrom has five goals and six assists in those 32 NHL games this season. He had an eight-game stint in the AHL with Cleveland from mid-November to early December, during which he racked up 10 goals and four assists. 

This is the fifth season in North America for the Nykoping, Sweden native, and he's amassed a total of 204 NHL games in his career, netting 31 goals and 38 assists. He has 26 goals and 21 assists in 33 career AHL games. His career high in goals (10) and points (20) both came in 56 games in the 2019-20 season.

Bemstrom has represented Sweden at the international level before, and was teammates with Marcus Pettersson and Magnus Hellberg in the 2022 World Championship. Bemstrom finished tied for No. 5 on Sweden in scoring in that tournament, scoring a goal and four assists in eight games.

The Blue Jackets utilized Bemstrom on their power play in each of his five seasons. He averaged just over a minute of power play time per game in each of his first four seasons, and was averaging 1:40 on the power play this season. Three of his five goals came on the power play, all in a pair of games back in October:

A number of Bemstrom's power play goals -- like two of the three above -- come as one-timers from the left circle. That's nothing new, as the Penguins saw when they played the Blue Jackets in March last season at PPG Paints Arena:

... and then again in Columbus in April:

Matthew Phillips is currently a right-handed shot on the second power play unit, so it'd be easy to find a place for Bemstrom on that unit. Easy swap.

Bemstrom doesn't kill penalties, so if he does get into the lineup, don't expect him to get any shorthanded time. For that reason it would also be difficult for him to be a one-for-one replacement for a right wing who does kill penalties, like Jeff Carter.

Mike Sullivan didn't have much to say Thursday night on what Bemstrom could potentially bring to the lineup. The trade happened during the Penguins' 4-1 win over the Canadiens, and so Sullivan didn't have a chance to really dive into video or discussions with the staff yet.

"What I do know is that he's a talented player," Sullivan said. "He scored 10-plus goals in the league a couple of years ago, when he was in Columbus. Beyond that, I don't have a real good grasp of his overall game. I know Kyle the hockey ops guys do, and so they obviously think he's a guy that can come in and help us."

For a quick scouting report I instead went to the player in the locker room who perhaps knows Benstrom best, Pettersson, after their time together on the Swedish national team. Pettersson was initially a little confused why he was being asked about a random bottom-six Blue Jackets forward after a game against the Canadiens, but he lit up and smiled when I told him I was asking because Bemstrom was a Penguin now.

"He's got a good shot, a really good shot," Pettersson said. "He's a good young player, and again a good shot. He's got great skill, he's a good player."

The data backs that up. The average top shot speed for a forward in the NHL this season is 84.74 miles per hour, and Bemstrom clears that and then some at 96.30 miles per hour. 

Bemstrom has speed, too. The league average top speed for a forward is 22.07 miles per hour, and he's been clocked at 23.04 miles per hour. He's reached over 22 miles per hour five times this season, whereas the average forward has only hit that marker twice. He's cleared 20 miles per hour 65 times this season, more than the average forward's mark of 54 times.

That foot speed was evident in this clip from Bemstrom's brief AHL stint this season, blowing past a Marlies defenseman to score:

Of the 17 forwards to play more than one game for the Blue Jackets this season, Bemstrom ranks ninth in rate of giveaways (0.87/60), 17th in takeaways (0.44/60), 12th in hits (2.61/60) and sixth in blocked shots (3.05/60).

Bemstrom could fit in on the right side of the Penguins' second- or third- lines. Right now, the Penguins have underwhelming waiver claim Phillips skating on Evgeni Malkin's right wing, and Valtteri Puustinen skating on the right side of Lars Eller on the third line.

Puustinen has earned his spot, but Phillips looks to be the easy decision to come out of the lineup. Bemstrom could take his position on the second line, or slide in on the third-line and bump Puustinen up to the second line. Puustinen has skated in the top-six before, but he seems to benefit from having a more predicable, responsible center in Eller. Moving him up to the second line wouldn't necessarily be a "promotion" if he's a better fit with Eller than Malkin. It might make more sense to give Bemstrom a shot on the second line first.

The Penguins have a scheduled off day on Friday before an 11 a.m. Saturday practice at the Lemieux Complex, so it'll be a couple days before we see where the Penguins envision Bemstrom fitting in.

Even if Bemstrom isn't a fit here, it was an incredibly low-risk trade. Nylander had multiple opportunities to carve out a spot in the NHL -- including time playing with Malkin himself -- and was never able to click. He was a free agent this summer and unlikely to play in the NHL for Pittsburgh again. If Bemstrom bombs and all the Penguins lose is a sixth-round pick two years from now, that's not exactly losing much.

It's a gamble that makes sense.