The trade deadline is still over a month away, but NHL general managers are already antsy to get deals done ahead of the Olympic break in early February.

On Sunday, Calgary traded defenseman Rasmus Anderson to Vegas for a package that included four assets.

The deal Pittsburgh and Colorado made wasn’t anywhere at all on that level, but it is an interesting swap between the two sides.

Yesterday, the Penguins acquired defenseman Ilya Solovyov from the Colorado Avalanche. Heading out to the mountains is forward Valtteri Puustinen and a seventh-round pick in next year’s draft.

Puustinen was a seventh round pick by the Penguins back in 2019. The winger had a 20-point, 52-game run with the Penguins two seasons ago, but wasn’t able to grab hold of a roster spot full time after that. He played 13 games for the Penguins last season, but has spent the entirety of this season in the American Hockey League so far.

With his departure, the Penguins now have no remaining players from their 2019 draft class.

As for Solovyov, he’s leaving the best team in the NHL in Colorado, but stepping into an organization where he may have better opportunity.

If there’s any time for him to blossom into a full-time NHLer, this is probably his best chance. He’s a 25-year-old defenseman who already has set a career-high in games played and has tied his career-high in points.

Solovyov was a waiver pickup right before the start of the season from Calgary. He played ten games for the Flames two seasons ago, registering three assists. Last year, he factored into five games, with one assist.

A former seventh round pick in 2020, one could argue his NHL career is already a success story. Now, he has a chance to write the next chapter in a team that could really use a depth defenseman to step up and take charge.

He’s joining a blue line that is suffering a string of injuries to their unit, especially among the big names. Erik Karlsson has been sidelined since last week and, later yesterday, Kris Letang landed on the injury list as well. A left-shot defenseman, Solovyov now has a chance to factor into a team that is surprisingly in the playoff race.

The Belarus native also might bring a bit of a scoring touch to Pittsburgh as well.

In 16 games for the Avalanche this season, Solovyov posted a goal and two assists, along with a -1 rating. Interestingly enough, all of his production came this month on the back of a three-game point streak from January 6th through the 10th.

If you’re into advanced stats and analytics, Solovyov has a few stats that will catch your eye as well.

Among Avalanche defenseman who recorded at least 100 minutes, Solovyov’s on-ice expected goals percentage ranked second at 59.7%, per MoneyPuck. He trailed only Cale Makar in that seven-man group. He also finished with the best mark in on-ice expected goals against per 60 minutes, at 1.85.

Solovyov is signed through the rest of this season with a cap hit of $775K, identical to Puustinen, who was also on a one-way deal.