Penguins Trade 7th-Round Pick for Jets’ D Nathan Beaulieu

The Winnipeg Jets have traded defenseman Nathan Beaulieu to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a seventh-round pick in one of the first trades on NHL Trade Deadline day. Beaulieu is signed through the 2021/22 season and his contract carries an AAV of $1.25 million.

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The #NHLJets have acquired a conditional seventh-round-pick in the 2022 #NHLDraft in exchange for defenceman Nathan Beaulieu.

DETAILS: https://t.co/NfKj1TKbhO pic.twitter.com/lMCGMnXIDs

— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) March 21, 2022

Having spent time in Montreal, Buffalo and Winnipeg, Beaulieu, 29, is a 6-foot-2, 205-pound, left-shot blueliner. He can move and take some time on the power-play. He has 12 goals, 94 points and 301 penalty minutes in 419 career games and he’s not afraid to drop the mitts and fight. His underlying numbers are not good, so from an analytics perspective, this is a player that the Penguins are taking a bit of a chance on. At the same time, the conditional pick isn’t much to give up. This is more just a player taking a contract and potentially slotting in as part of the team’s depth.

The conditional portion of the trade for Winnipeg is if the Penguins win three playoff series and Nathan Beaulieu plays in at least 50% of those playoff games, then Winnipeg gets the 7th RD pick.

There is talk the Penguins might keep Beaulieu on LTIR for the remainder of the regular season then activate him for the postseason. He has a $1.25 million cap hit.

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