Kings, Penguins shake things up with Hagelin-Pearson trade

Rob Blake and Jim Rutherford had both seen enough.

The general managers completed the first meaningful trade of the 2018-19 NHL regular season Wednesday, swapping underachieving left wingers to jolt their respective clubs back to life.

Carl Hagelin, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins, is off to Los Angeles in exchange for Tanner Pearson, who earned a ring with the Kings.

“Our team is obviously not in a position that we are comfortable with in terms of how we are playing,” Blake said in a press release announcing the one-for-one swap.

"This could be the start of more changes,” Rutherford warned in a post-trade briefing with reporters. “We'll see how it goes.”

What this means for the Penguins

Pearson, 26, is the younger player in the deal. He’s probably a better finisher than Hagelin, and he's under contract for two more years at a digestible $3.75-million cap hit.

That's the good news.

The bad?

Pearson has struggled mightily through the opening stretch of the season, recording just a single assist - in the Oct. 5 home opener - in 17 games. For the first time in his six-year career, Pearson’s 5-on-5 shot metrics sit below 50 percent, and the Kings were outscored 10-1 with him on the ice over 198 even-strength minutes.

Yet Rutherford seems to believe Pearson can reinvigorate the Penguins, who have lost six of their past seven games and face the conference-leading Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.

"He was able to play with their top guys (in L.A.),” Rutherford said, referring to Pearson’s past experience skating alongside Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter. “I believe that a change will be good for him. He will be a good fit for us.”

Pearson bagged 24 goals in 80 games at his peak in 2016-17. The 6-foot-1, 201-pounder contributed solid top-nine value in his other two seasons with the Kings, registering 36 and 40 points.

The talent is there and if he slides into Hagelin’s old spot on a line with Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist there will be no excuses. Over to you, Tanner.

What this means for the Kings

By acquiring Hagelin, the Kings - arguably the slowest team in the NHL - have gained one of the sport's premier speedsters. Hagelin is a dynamite penalty killer, too, which should help L.A.’s 21st-ranked unit.

Hagelin’s best NHL season was way back in 2011-12 when he posted 14 goals and 24 assists in 64 games as a rookie for the New York Rangers. Through 16 games this season, the 30-year-old has just one goal and two assists.

Given the direction the Kings' season is trending (see: down, way down) and Hagelin's contract situation (pending unrestricted free agent), is this a rent-to-sell situation? It's not a crazy thought.

The last-place Kings are spiraling right now; they've lost three straight, including a 5-1 defeat on home ice Tuesday against the Maple Leafs. The league’s second-oldest roster just got older and, although they could use a boost of some kind and Hagelin’s tantalizing wheels fit the short-term bill, a second deal around the Feb. 25 trade deadline may be the right long-term play.

Suitors surely haven’t forgotten about Hagelin’s performance in the 2016 playoffs, when he starred on the vaunted HBK Line with six goals and 10 assists in 24 postseason games.

(Side note: The Penguins retained $250,000 of Hagelin’s $4-million salary in the trade, eliminating any financial discrepancy between the two contracts.)

The main takeaway

In the grand scheme of things, the Hagelin-for-Pearson deal will not lose or win another Cup for either of these franchises. The players involved, even at their absolute best, are secondary contributors.

But this trade does serve a purpose. L.A. and Pittsburgh both need a kick in the rear end and found their targets in a pair of underperforming vets.

The Kings are in a state of flux under a new, interim head coach. Blake and Co. are navigating the waters between relevant and irrelevant, seemingly unsure of which side of the tide they will ultimately end up on.

Is this the beginning of the end for a core that won two Cups in three years at the start of the decade? Maybe. The departure of John Stevens last week certainly got the ball rolling. Is a full tear-down coming? Perhaps.

The Penguins, while on stronger footing overall, are also feeling the heat, albeit in a subtler fashion. Rutherford, who signed a three-year contract extension hours before announcing the trade, has voiced his displeasure with the current supporting cast around Malkin, Sidney Crosby, and other untouchables, according to The Athletic's Josh Yohe.

Is this a one-off move or a start of a furious shopping spree from Rutherford? It sounds like the former.

"I just think we're in a funk now," Rutherford said. "We're a fragile team. We're struggling. But for the most part, I still believe in this team."

The common thread: Winning is fleeting in professional sports and both GMs seem willing to do everything in their power to keep another championship within reach.

John Matisz is theScore's National Hockey Writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn.