It was Jim Rutherford's first trade as general manager of the Penguins and, in many ways, perhaps the signature move of his tenure here.
He sent James Neal to Nashville for Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling on June 27, 2014, not long after he had replaced Ray Shero as GM.
Rutherford didn't negotiate that swap because he felt Spaling could be a difference-maker. He wasn't.
And he didn't do it because he thought Hornqvist was a more gifted goal-scorer than Neal. He isn't.
But he did believe that Hornqvist could bring an edge the Penguins were lacking, that his fearless style and ultra-competitive nature might be contagious in a locker room that had acquired a reputation for chronic underachievement in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Two Stanley Cups later, it's hard to argue with the results.
Rutherford didn't get a better player out of that trade, but he got a better team, thanks to the way Hornqvist altered the Penguins' intangibles.
"That was part of doing that," Rutherford said Monday. "Bringing a different voice, changing the chemistry in the room. (Hornqvist) was a guy who did that. That's what I'm looking to do now, see if we can add one or two players here who can change things up a little bit."
One or two players might be enough to bring about a similar change in a team that has meekly departed back-to-back postseasons, but the Penguins' personnel changes before the 2020-21 season won't be limited to a couple of guys.
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