Penguins trade Phil Kessel to Arizona for Alex Galchenyuk

The long-rumored split between the Pittsburgh Penguins and popular winger Phil Kessel finally happened Saturday night, and it wasn’t exactly the prettiest divorce of all time.

The Penguins sent Kessel, a fourth-round pick and defense prospect Dane Birks to the Arizona Coyotes for winger Alex Galchenyuk and defense prospect Pierre-Olivier Joseph.

Ultimately, both sides more or less got what they wanted.

The Penguins are trying to bounce back from an embarrassing first-round playoff exit by “changing the culture” and becoming harder to play against, and they feel subtracting Kessel will help in that regard. They added a player six years younger who makes almost $2 million less.

Kessel, who had a restrictive no-trade clause that allowed him to be moved to only eight teams without his permission, wanted to be traded to Arizona, where he will play for coach Rick Tocchet. Kessel had a good relationship with Tocchet while he was a Penguins assistant.

They didn’t exactly see eye to eye on the way out the door, though, specifically regarding who initiated the break-up.

“He asked to be traded a few times over the course of time,” Rutherford said. “Of course, then a little time would go by, and maybe he wasn’t quite sure if he wanted traded. But there have been times where he felt that going somewhere else might be in everybody’s best interest.”

“I’m not sure that’s exactly what happened,” Kessel said. “Jim came to me one time and said … I’ll never be a Penguin again. I think he’s mistaken a little bit there. But I don’t want to get involved in that. I’m not here to tell what really happened and the real truth, but whatever Jim wants to say.”

Leaving that dispute aside, Kessel said he enjoyed his time in Pittsburgh, and Rutherford thanked him for his contributions to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016-17.

“I had a great time there,” Kessel said. “The city and the fans were great to me. All the guys, I’m going to miss them. They’re great guys and a great group.”

Said Rutherford: “I can’t say enough good things about him, and I like him personally, but it was just time to make a change with him.”

Galchenyuk probably won’t match Kessel’s production. Kessel is one of only 15 NHL players to average a point per game over the past two seasons. Galchenyuk had 19 goals and 41 points in 72 games with Arizona. His best year came in 2015-16, when he scored 30 goals in 82 games for Montreal.

Galchenyuk, however, is a speedy 25-year-old with one year left on a contract that pays him $4.9 million annually. Kessel, 31, has three years left on a deal with a $6.8 million annual cap hit for the Coyotes.

“Changing the mix of our team was important at this point,” Rutherford said. “I talked about our team being content with our success over the last few years, trying to bring new people in to be excited to be here. I talked to Alex just within the last 15 minutes. His excitement was just coming through the phone. He was very excited to be coming here.”

Joseph, meanwhile, is a top prospect, a 6-foot-2 puck-moving defenseman picked by Arizona in the first round of the 2017 draft. He immediately becomes one of the Penguins’ top prospects, though Rutherford estimated his NHL debut is probably still a few years off.

Birks, 23, spent most of last season with the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers.

Rutherford said the Penguins might be able to be active in free agency with the salary cap savings the deal gives them.

“Now, at least it gives us a chance of looking at somebody, and we do have a couple of players in mind, if we’re one of the fortunate teams once we get there and we’d like to add somebody,” Rutherford said.

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