Here's how many former Penguins play for the Canucks now
Many of the Vancouver Canucks players and staff acquired over the last 18 months have one unique thing in common. They all used to be a part of the Pittsburgh Penguins organization.
Some of the former Penguins that now play for the Canucks include Casey DeSmith, Teddy Blueger, Mark Friedman, Ian Cole, and Sam Lafferty. If Tanner Pearson hadn’t been traded right before the start of the season, he would also be on this list.
While the Canucks have had a decent amount of ex-Penguins join the team over the last half-decade, the trend has definitely accelerated ever since the arrival of Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin. Those two both worked for the Penguins organization prior to starting on the West Coast.
Those two, who are in charge of hockey-related decisions for the Canucks, have acquired a lot of players that they were already familiar with. This is true across both trades and signings made in free agency.
While it may feel like the Canucks and Penguins are always trading with each other, that is actually not true. The recent trade that centred around Jack Rathbone and Friedman swapping sides was the first deal between the two teams since 2019. That 2019 trade saw big defenceman Erik Gudbranson leave Vancouver in exchange for Pearson and predated the current Vancouver management team.
The ex-Penguins now in the Canucks organization do not stop with just the players on the ice. Head coach Rick Tocchet played for the Penguins during three seasons in the 90s. He was one of the team’s best players, scoring 48 goals and adding 61 points for 109 points in 80 games during the 1992-93 NHL season.
Assistant coach and former NHL player Sergei Gonchar also spent five NHL seasons with the Penguins, winning a Stanley Cup in 2008-09.
If you’re trying to predict who the Canucks will acquire in a potential Conor Garland trade, recent history suggests it might be someone with past ties to the Penguins organization.