On the eve of NHL free agency, the Pittsburgh Penguins swung a deal to acquire defenseman Kaedan Korczak from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for defenseman Parker Wotherspoon.

Unlike some of the trades made earlier this offseason, like picking up forward Hendrix Lapierre for a few mid-round picks and swapping depth defenseman Jack St. Ivany for depth forward David Gustafsson, this deal makes less sense on the surface.

Wotherspoon was a revelation for the Penguins last season, signing a two-year, $2 million total in Pittsburgh. Wotherspoon had been an analytics darling from his time in Boston, but with the Penguins he got the chance to bloom into a true full-time NHL defenseman.

In 80 games for the Penguins last season, Wotherspoon tallied three goals and 27 assists (30 points), while posting a +17 rating and averaging 20:10 a night on the ice. All of those numbers were career highs.

He provided the perfect defensive partner for Erik Karlsson, something the Penguins did not have on their roster the last two years. His presence helped unlock the best version of Karlsson we’ve seen in Pittsburgh, and was one of the few stable presences on the blue line that was shaky at times during the year.

Now, the almost 29-year-old off to Vegas. But 50% of his salary ($500K) will remain in Pittsburgh for that second and final year of his deal.

In comes Korczak, who is coming off a lot of career highs in his own right. In his first full-time year in the NHL, the right-shot scored three goals and tallied 13 assists (16 points) in 78 games. He skated 15:58 a night during the regular season.

In the playoffs, Korczak appeared in 13 games during Vegas’ run to the Stanley Cup Final. He chipped in three assists, but saw his ice time slashed to 12:05 a night, and it’s worth noting that he only played one game in the Final, that Game 6 loss that sealed a Cup win for Carolina.

Korczak is a decent defenseman, there’s no doubt over that. He’s shown he can play in this league, well enough to fetch an extension with Vegas that now carries over to Pittsburgh. But that alone doesn’t make the trade fully understandable for the Penguins.

Here’s something that makes a ton of sense long term. Wotherspoon is obviously the cheaper contract, and therefore the more valuable defenseman. But, that sweetheart deal the Penguins picked him up on expires at the end of the 2026-27 season. Wotherspoon is going to get an enormous raise, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see his new figure leapfrog the $3.25 million this new guy is making.

By comparison, Korczak is cost controlled for the next four years. His salary is set, and although the Penguins are nowhere near a cap crunch, it’s always nice to have some stability on the books in a world where salaries are exploding and the market is resetting seemingly every day. Korczak gives the Penguins a better understanding of what money is going where.

He’s also three years younger than Wotherspoon. That helps as well. Age wise, he better fits the timeline the Penguins are shooting for, and fits the mold of players in the 24-27 range that general manager Kyle Dubas has sought after.

What it also does, however, is put the organization’s blue line in a very weak spot. With Wotherspoon gone and Ryan Shea ready to hit the open market, the left side consists of names like Sam Girard, Ilya Solovyov, Caleb Jones, and potentially Ryan Graves.

None of those guys played more than the 22 games Graves played for Pittsburgh last season, and Girard was the only NHL regular last year. For a team that, by the looks of it, is not planning to bottom out next year, that’s a scary sight.

Of course, there can always be corresponding moves to help shore up the line. I mean, there is a lot of offseason left. But on its own, Wotherspoon for Korczak is a bit of a head scratcher. We’ll see if anything else comes of it.