Latest move from the Penguins makes their trade a total bust.

Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford has built a reputation for being one of the better general manager's in the National Hockey League when it comes to making trades, trades that include acquiring big pieces that unquestionably contributed to the organization's back to back Stanley Cup Championships. That being said though even great general managers are not immune to making mistakes, and this one is starting to look particularly nasty for Rutherford and the Penguins.

According to a report from Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now, it now appears that the Pittsburgh Penguins have non-tendered former 2016 second round draft selection Zachary Lauzon and that is very ugly news indeed for the Penguins. Now to be clear the Penguins can not really be blamed for the fact that Lauzon's career has been completely derailed by head injuries, a number of concussions have led to the belief that Lauzon's career as a hockey player is already over, but he was the final piece of what now looks like a catastrophic trade from Rutherford. 

Lauzon of course was acquired at the 2016 National Hockey League Entry Draft with a pick that the Penguins did not originally own. Instead that pick was acquired from the St. Louis Blues as part of the trade that sent veteran enforcer Ryan Reaves to Pittsburgh following the Penguins back to back championship runs. Reaves of course would not last very long as a Penguin but one need look no further than the Stanley Cup Final to see that the Blues are still reaping the benefits of that deal with the Penguins. 

Although there were several pieces that went back to the Blues as a part of this deal, one of those pieces was then prospect Oskar Sundqvist. Sundqvist of course is a fourth line player but has had a major impact in the Blues current playoff run, including injury Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk in the final. Add to that the fact that the Blues would also recoup a big time draft pick and the situation only gets worse for the Penguins.

Included as part of the package for Reaves was the Penguins first round draft pick, admittedly a very late first rounder, and that pick would eventually blossom into Klim Kostin. Kostin himself has not yet become an NHL player but he vowed observers during the St. Louis Blues training camp this season and there are high expectations for him moving forward.

Rutherford has made plenty of good moves over the years so you should not judge him on the basis of a single trade, but looking back at it this one has worked out very poorly for the Penguins.