It's Benn Nice

PITTSBURGH - The Jamie Benn era in Pittsburgh is officially over.

The franchise's first ever draft pick ends his Pittsburgh tenure with 539 regular season games played, 261 goals, and 360 assists, as well as 43 points in 45 playoff games.

"We had as many as twelve teams that expressed some form of interest, but ultimately Florida was the team that provided us with what we felt was the best deal on the table." GM Gurtowski said when arriving to the arena for tonight's season opening game against Carolina. "There were many long nights spent in my office trying to get this deal done; you want to find the right deal for a player of this magnitude, but you also want to be sure that this is the right deal for our franchise."

The question on everyone's mind is where does this put the Penguins for this coming season?

"We still believe we can be a playoff team. This trade will allow us to give more opportunities to some guys who've been here awhile, like Adrian (Kempe) and Trevor (Moore), while also getting some of our new players ice time as well, like Nealer (James Neal), (Pius) Suter, and Wheels (Blake Wheeler)."

"The return we got will help us for the future, Stillman's obviously a prospect we are high on but weren't able to get due to not having a second round pick last summer. But I also think this can be a right now trade for us too. The first and third round picks we are looking at as currency. We could use them to draft prospects, trade up/down for different picks, or trade them for NHL roster players. Nothing is off the table, and we still like our team and always look for ways to supplement that."

How soon would the Penguins be looking to name a new captain?

"We have an idea of the direction we want to go in, but nothing has been set in stone yet."

Benn was visibly emotional, as one would expect after spending seven years with a team, also serving as their captain for that entire time.

"I mean it's a weird feeling right now. I knew this could be coming, Ian was transparent with me the entire way through and kept me in the loop, but it's still sad to be getting traded from somewhere I've considered home for the last seven years. I really love the city, fans, and the guys in that room. I'll always be proud of what this group was able to do. But I am excited to get started in Florida. The team there looks really good and I'm excited to be part of that."

There will be time for reminiscing later, as the Penguins get ready to open their 2021-2022 season tonight against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes. Per the morning skate, here are the anticipated lines for tonight. Arttu Ruotsalainen was called up this morning and looks to be making his NHL debut in place of the injured Brad Richardson

Toffoli-Horvat-Wheeler
Kempe-Norris-Saad
Neal-Suter-Moore
Robinson-Ruotsalainen-Barabanov

Edler-DeMelo
Gavrikov-Sekera
Harrington-Poolman

Halak
Swayman