Anaheim Ducks Swap Carl Hagelin For David Perron, Adam Clendening
By Jeff Henning
The Anaheim Ducks have acquired forward David Perron and defensive prospect Adam Clendening from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Carl Hagelin. Hagelin was acquired from the New York Rangers in the offseason for Emerson Etem and a 2nd round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. David Perron came to Penguins via the Edmonton Oilers in which the Penguins gave up a 2015 1st round pick in order to acquire Perron. This late night trade move felt more like a change of scenery deal than anything else.
It was clear through the first half of this season that Hagelin was not living up to what Duck’s management had hoped for. With just 4 goals and 12 points through 43 games played with Anaheim, Hagelin found himself more in the role of scapegoat rather than hero. Although I like Hagelin’s game, the true numbers can be found in the stats. A (-10) rating and zero power play points just wasn’t getting it done on a Ducks team that has finally started to turn things around after their much maligned start to 2015-2016.
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Make no mistake about it though, David Perron hasn’t exactly been lighting the world on fire this season either. Like Hagelin, Perron has only managed 4 goals and 16 points through his first 43 games in Pittsburgh. The Penguins have also been a disappointing team through the first half of this regular season, and while it’s easy to harp on Sidney Crosby, the fact for the Penguins remains that they just have no offensive production from their depth positions. Spending most of his time this year with Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel, Perron was underwhelming at best.
Perhaps the Ducks just didn’t like what they were seeing in Hagelin and decided to cut their losses, which is something I can’t really say for the Penguins. Giving up a 1st rounder for a player who barely put up respectable bottom-6 numbers is a big reason the Penguins are where they are in the standings. It all comes back to that whole lack of depth point. Speaking of depth, the Ducks were also able to acquire defensive prospect Adam Clendening in this most recent swap. The 23 year old defenseman has registered one point in 9 games played with Pittsburgh this season. Sure, Clendening isn’t going to become the next Erik Karlsson but he’s a great depth addition, especially for the Ducks who already feature a strong defensive unit.
This trade is not nearly as bad as last seasons Penguins-Ducks swap in which the Ducks stole Simon Despres from the Penguins. Desires a former 1st round draft pick was, for lack of a better term, given away to Anaheim for Ben Lovejoy. Yeah, Ben Lovejoy. Although Despres has been dealing with injuries through the first half of this season, he did just sign a 5 year extension with the Ducks, so it’s very obvious that Duck’s brass like what Despres can bring to the table. This Hagelin-Perron swap is much more even as these two players needed a change of uniform more than anything else.
While I don’t believe that David Perron alone will cure the Ducks league worst offensive woes, he is a former 20 goal scorer and if he can rediscover some of his game he will certainly be a valuable addition to a Ducks offense that frankly, can’t get any worse.