Jim Rutherford has stayed busy in his first season as Penguins general manager. Not long after a 5-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets Tuesday night, Rutherford pulled the trigger of his fourth trade since he took over with the Pens back in June. In a swap of bottom-six centermen, the Pens sent Marcel Goc to St. Louis in exchange for Max Lapierre.

In 43 games with the Penguins this season, Goc scored two goals and added four assists with 43 shots. He averaged a little over 12 minutes a game this season as a Penguin, and was primarily relied upon for his work in the faceoff circle (52%) and also on the penalty kill. The knock on Goc recently has been his lack of a physical game, something head coach Mike Johnston openly acknowledged for making him a healthy scratch recently. Becoming a harder team to play against in general is also something that Johnston has openly talked about, enter Maxim Lapierre.
The addition of Lapierre essentially gives the Penguins a second Steve Downie to play in their bottom-six. Playing a much more controlled game this season has resulted in nine points in 45 games, however the number that always stands out on Lapierre’s stat line is his penalty minutes –253 PIM in his last 201 games prior to the start of this season.