Pittsburgh Penguins Trade Brandon Sutter

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Vancouver Canucks have pulled off the rare late-July trade as the Penguins have sent center Brandon Sutter and a third-round pick to the Canucks.

Going back to the Penguins in the deal are center Nick Bonino, defenseman Adam Clendening and a second-round pick.

Sutter, 26, is coming off a season in which he scored 21 goals and tallied 12 assists while playing on Pittsburgh’s third line. A pending unrestricted free agent, Sutter has a cap hit of $3.3 million for the 2015-16 saeason.

On the other side of the deal, Bonino goes to Pittsburgh after having a season where he recorded 15 goals and 24 assists for 39 points. The 27-year old has two years left on his contract with a cap hit of just $1.9 million per year. Clendening, 22, adds a nice offensive presence for the Penguins blue line, and should compete for a main roster spot come training camp in September.

The move continues the Penguins’ retooling after a disappointing first-round exit against the New York Rangers in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. For the Canucks, Sutter adds a proven third-line center to the team, though it could be said that the cost to acquire him may have been a bit too high.

Shortly after the trade, the Penguins also announced that free agent center Eric Fehr had been signed to a three-year contract.