Ogilthorpe

From NHL.com

Penguins deal Whitney to Ducks for Kunitz, prospect Thursday, 02.26.2009 / 12:45 PM / 2009 Trade Deadline By Shawn P. Roarke - NHL.com Managing Editor For the second-straight year, the Pittsburgh Penguins obtained a talented forward through a late-season trade to ride shotgun for Sidney Crosby

Six days before the NHL's trade deadline -- which falls at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday, March 4 -- Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero nabbed Anaheim's Chris Kunitz and prospect Eric Tangradi in exchange for puck-moving defenseman Ryan Whitney.

Last season, also on Feb. 26, Shero also paid a hefty price to Atlanta to obtain Marian Hossa from the Thrashers, a move that helped propel the Penguins to the Stanley Cup Final.

Shero paid a pretty decent price this time, as well, in making Thursday's trade. Kunitz, a 29-year-old left wing that is working on his third-straight 20-goal season, was imported to be a first-line scoring option for a team that needs goal scorers in a major way

In fact, both teams needed the jolt that this trade provides.

A lack of consistent scoring has crippled the Penguins in their bid to defend the Eastern Conference crown they won in high-flying fashion last season. Eight teams in the NHL have scored more goals than the Penguins, who feature the top two point-getters in the League in Evgeni Malkin and Crosby. As a result, the Penguins sit in 10th place in the East, but are just two points eighth-place Buffalo.

Anaheim, meanwhile, hasn’t resembled the team that won the 2007 Stanley Cup, also struggling to score and getting inconsistent goaltending. The Ducks sit in 10th place in the West, one of four teams tied with 65 points. They are just three points out of fifth place.

The Penguins have been in the market for a scoring winger for most of this season after being unable to fill a lack of scoring on the wing after Hossa walked away as a free agent last summer, joining the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings and severely limiting the return on the deal that saw Shero ship roster players Colby Armstrong and Eric Christensen, plus former first-round pick Angelo Esposito and Pittsburgh's No. 1 pick in 2008, which was used to select Daulton Leveille, to Atlanta.

Aside from Crosby and Malkin, right wing Petr Sykora is the only other player on the Penguin roster that can claim more goals than the 16 Kunitz has put up this season. Malkin leads the team with 27, followed by Crosby and Sykora at 23 apiece.

Whitney became expendable with the recent return of power-play QB Sergei Gonchar, who had missed more than half the season with a shoulder injury, as well as the continued improvement of young offensive defensemen Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski.

And, not only do the Penguins get immediate forward help in the form of Kunitz, but Shero also fortified his team's depth with the addition of Tangradi, a 20-year-old forward with the Belleville Bulls in the Ontario Hockey League. Tangradi, from Philadelphia, is 6-foot-4, 220 pounds and has 38 goals this season in 52 games with the Bulls. He was a second-round choice by Anaheim in the 2007 Entry Draft.

Interestingly, this move also fuels the already rampant speculation that the Ducks may be trying to move either Chris Pronger or Scott Niedermayer, both veteran offensive defensemen. With Whitney in the fold, Anaheim GM Bob Murray could put one of his two hot commodities on the open market to see what return could be exacted.