After brief hold-up, Penguins trade Patric Hornqvist to Florida

PITTSBURGH — It took longer than anticipated after a reported hold-up in communication, but the Pittsburgh Penguins have traded away one of the franchise’s key players over the past five years: Patric Hornqvist.

Hornqvist is headed to the Florida Panthers in exchange for defenseman Mike Matheson and forward Colton Sceviour, the team announced Thursday.

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According to a release from the Penguins, Matheson is signed through the 2025-26 season and his contract carries an average annual value of $4.875 million. Sceviour’s deal runs through next season and carries an average annual value of $1.2 million.

“First, this was a difficult decision to say goodbye to a terrific person and player in Patric,” said Rutherford in the release. "He was a huge part of our success over the last six seasons, including back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, and we wish him nothing but the best. Mike is a young, skilled defenseman with great offensive instincts who plays with speed and has a good shot, while Colton is a solid veteran player who has a lot of experience on the penalty kill.”

This deal appeared to be done yesterday, but multiple reports said there were a few hang-ups. Neither team had commented about what was going on until the final deal came out Thursday afternoon.

Here’s what the team said about its newly acquired players:

"The 6-foot-2, 188-pound defenseman has notched 33 goals, 58 assists and 91 points in 299 NHL games, all with Florida. He has eclipsed the 10-goal plateau once in 2017-18, and has scored at least seven goals in each of his four full seasons in the NHL. The left-handed-shooting blueliner has also appeared in seven career Stanley Cup Playoff games, where he’s recorded one assist.

The Pointe-Claire, Quebec native has appeared internationally for Canada on multiple occasions. First, he helped Team Canada to a gold medal at the 2016 IIHF World Championship, where he tallied six points (2G-4A) in 10 games and was named the tournament’s top defenseman. The following year, Matheson and Team Canada took home a silver medal at the 2017 IIHF World Championship, where he finished with seven points (1G-6A) in 10 games.

Drafted in the first round (23rd overall) in the 2012 NHL Draft held in Pittsburgh, Matheson played three seasons at Boston College of the NCAA, where he accumulated 14 goals, 57 assists and 71 points in 112 games. He served as captain of the Eagles during his final season with the team in 2014-15.

Sceviour, 31, recorded six goals, 10 assists, 16 points and was plus-2 in 69 games for the Panthers in 2019-20. The right-handed shooting forward also finished third on Florida with 91 hits, while his 72 blocked shots ranked fourth on the team and second among team forwards.

Sceviour is especially effective on the penalty kill, where his 172:32 minutes of shorthanded time on ice in 2019-20 paced all Florida skaters, and was eighth-most among all NHL forwards.

The 6-foot, 190-pound Sceviour has played in 454 career NHL games split between Dallas and Florida, where he’s registered 59 goals, 82 assists and 141 points. The Red Deer, Alberta native has also appeared in 19 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, where he’s picked up eight points (3G-5A) and is plus-2.

Prior to being drafted by Dallas in the fourth round (112th overall) in the 2007 NHL Draft, Sceviour played four seasons in the Western Hockey League with Portland and Lethbridge from 2005-09 where he accumulated 240 points (99G-141A) in 348 regular season games."

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