Trading Jamie Oleksiak back to the Dallas Stars on Monday cleared some things up for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
First and foremost, it cleared a roster spot for Justin Schultz to return from injury.
It also cleared some salary cap space for general manager Jim Rutherford to play with as the Feb. 25 trade deadline approaches.
The Penguins essentially received the same asset in return for Oleksiak – a fourth-round draft pick – that they gave up to get him from the Stars in December of 2017.
In between, Oleksiak recorded eight goals, 25 points and eight fighting majors in 83 regular-season games for the Penguins.
He suffered a concussion in a Dec. 19 fight with Washington’s Tom Wilson and was a healthy scratch for eight of the 12 games the team has played since Christmas, falling to seventh on the depth chart behind Juuso Riikola.
Schultz, who has been out Oct. 13 with a broken leg, has been skating on his own for more than a week and is due back at practice soon. His return would have given the Penguins nine healthy NHL-caliber defensemen. Trading Oleksiak helps to alleviate that logjam.
In the absence of the 6-foot-7, 255-pound Oleksiak, fighting chores would likely fall to fourth-line winger Garrett Wilson should the situation present itself. Wilson has 44 professional fighting majors, including five in the NHL.
Oleksiak signed a three-year contract with the Penguins with an average annual salary of $2,137,500 in July. Since then, Riikola has emerged as a viable NHL player and the Penguins acquired Marcus Pettersson in a trade with Anaheim. Both make less than half of Oleksiak’s salary.
Before the trade, the Penguins were butting right up against the $79.5 million cap. Now, Rutherford will have a little more space to pursue a roster upgrade through trade. He is likely targeting a left-wing who could play on the second line with Evgeni Malkin or a third-line center who would be a better fit than Derick Brassard.
The Penguins acquired Oleksiak last December in exchange for either their fourth-round pick or one they had acquired from Arizona via Minnesota in the Josh Archibald deal, whichever was higher. The pick involved in Monday’s trade was Minnesota’s choice.
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Jonathan Bombulie is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jonathan at jbombulie@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BombulieTrib.
