Penguins acquire LW Alexei Ponikarovsky

Yeah, this is about 36 hours late, but it's going up here for posterity.

The Pens sent Luca Caputi and Martin Skoula to the Leafs for Alexei Ponikarovsky.

Ponikarovsky (typing that name is going to get old quickly) will jump into a top 6 forward spot immediately, given that he's been a consistent goal scorer for several years now. My guess is that he'll play the left side with Geno, but someone will have to play the right side on that line. Dupuis has been scoring this year, so I guess that makes him the most likely candidate.

Ponikarovsky will also shoot the puck more than some of the Pens other forwards (like Dupuis and Fedotenko).

I'm not too disappointed to see Caputi leave. He wasn't a top grade prospect (or he wouldn't have been included in a deal for a 20 goal scoring rental player). Skoula was simply the odd man out on the blue line and any little bit of cap space was helpful to Ray Shero.

The real question now is who will sit from this group of forwards, assuming no one is hurt. My guess is Mike Rupp or, if he's not playing well, Fedotenko (though we know Bylsma likes Fedotenko, so that may be less likely as the playoffs near). Any way you look at it, the flexibility is a nice thing to have, assuming it doesn't cause problems in the locker room.

Penguins acquire D Jordan Leopold

The Pens swapped a 2010 second round draft pick for Panthers defenseman Jordan Leopold today. You have to wonder what else is going to happen behind this. With the addition of Leopold, the Pens have 8 NHL defensemen, with none of them having an obvious injury. Maybe it's a hedge against future injury, given that the top two defense (Orpik and Gonchar) both played in the Olympics, but I think there are other moves still to come.

Are we going to see one of the young guys (Letang or GoGo) packaged with a pending UFA (Fedotekno?) to acquire a scoring winger?

Leopold is an unrestricted free agent after this season.

Just remember - "In Shero We Trust" should be emblazoned in the head of every Penguins fan.

Pens acquire D Steve Wagner

The Pens shipped Nate Guenin to the St Louis Blues today in exchange for defenseman Steve Wagner.

According to the Peoria Journal Star, Wagner is an offensive defenseman. He is 25 and has played 46 games in the NHL over four seasons. He was an undrafted free agent who surprisingly made the Blues roster in 2007. According to stltoday.com, Wagner has struggled to regain his form after being sent down to Peoria and breaking his leg in 2008. Hopefully a change of scenery can help him, because he seems to have the offensive skills to play in the NHL.

Wagner is a UFA after this season.

Guenin is 26 and definitely a stay-at-home kind of guy on the blue line. He's also a UFA after this season.