Turn of events: the Penguins have completely ruined a major trade by the Montreal Canadiens

They are thus going on to the Stanley Cup grand final.

As we discussed this morning, this outcome has a direct impact on Kent Hughes and the Montreal Canadiens, who unconditionally own the Panthers' 2023 1st round pick.

Following yesterday's game, this pick has further plummeted, and it will finally end up, at best, at the 31st overall spot.

All of this could have easily been avoided by the Pittsburgh Penguins, who just had to defeat the poor Chicago Blackhawks:

As also mentioned by Marco Normandin, the Panthers could have easily been eliminated from the playoffs:

This would have eliminated the Panthers.

Here's a summary of the major impacts of this match:

In short, this loss by the Pittsburgh Penguins has completely sabotaged the trade of the Montreal Canadiens, concluded with the Florida Panthers and involving Ben Chiarot.

With a victory from the Penguins (against Chicago), the Panthers' pick owned by the Habs would have been 14th overall and would have been of very high quality. (Gabe Perreault, Oliver Moore, Ryan Leonard, David Reinbacher?)

But due to their loss, it will be a 31st or 32nd pick. Ouch.