Go back to early June for a moment, to the night the Penguins lost Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final to the Detroit Red Wings. In one Mellon Arena locker room, the jubilant players poured beer on each other and took turns kissing the Cup. In the other tomb-like locker room, the heartbroken players thought about what might have been and tried to look ahead.

"It's hard," Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney said with teary eyes in that gloom, "because you know this team will never be together again."

Soon after, Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone, Jarkko Ruutu, Adam Hall, Gary Roberts and Ty Conklin were gone.

Now, Whitney is gone, too, off to the Anaheim Ducks yesterday in a trade in which he's the biggest winner -- and not just because that wonderful Southern California weather beats the heck out of Pittsburgh's March and April.

That isn't to say forward Chris Kunitz won't help the underachieving Penguins, maybe even enough to get them back in the playoffs. He'll get to 20 goals again this season for the third consecutive year. He has held his own playing with high-end talent -- Teemu Selanne comes to mind -- and been through the playoff grinder, having won the Cup with the Ducks in 2007. He's no Hossa by any stretch of the imagination, but he comes at about half the price and is signed through the 2011-12 season. Tonight's game in Chicago can't come soon enough so we can see what he can do on Sidney Crosby's left wing, providing Crosby's achy groin allows him to play. Kunitz, 29, has to be 10 times better in that spot than Pascal Dupuis, who now can move to the checking line where he belongs.

That also isn't to say kid forward Eric Tangradi won't help the Penguins down the line. He's a big guy with a scorer's touch. Think what you will of the competition in the Ontario Hockey League, but 38 goals and 87 points in 52 games is impressive. Tangradi, 20, just might turn out to be the best part of the trade from Pittsburgh's perspective.

There's no doubt the Penguins are giving up plenty, but you have to give to get in the trade business. They could afford to move Whitney because of their excess of offensive defensemen. They still have old vet Sergei Gonchar, young star-to-be Kris Letang and promising prospect Alex Goligoski, which made it easier for general manager Ray Shero to deal Whitney -- even though he's signed for the next four seasons, no small thing for a talented, relatively young defenseman -- than center Jordan Staal, the club's other marketable commodity.

Clearly, this trade has a chance to be really, really good for the Penguins.

But it's already a great deal for Whitney.

This is a player who will benefit big time from a fresh start with a new team.

A significant portion of Penguins fandom figuratively danced in the streets after the trade was announced, so glad are they to see Whitney gone. That bunch blames his awful play for the team's lousy season. Talk about being shortsighted. Alleged stars Staal and Marc-Andre Fleury have been just as disappointing in their own way. So have lesser lights Max Talbot and Miroslav Satan. And how about some blame for Shero, who didn't have a viable Plan B after Hossa left -- Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko? Please! -- and didn't replace the toughness that Malone and Roberts took to Tampa Bay or the feistiness that Ruutu took to Ottawa?

But none received the constant, harsh criticism that Whitney did. It's difficult to play under those circumstances. It must have been especially difficult for Whitney, who missed the first 33 games after offseason foot surgery. Those close to him are willing to blame at least some of his struggles on the fact he practically had to learn how to skate all over again because the operation affected his balance.

The guess here is the Anaheim fans will give Whitney a chance to show what he can do. Another guess is that he'll respond well.

Whitney was a very good player in 2006-07 with 14 goals and 45 assists. He wasn't so good last season, although he was strong in the playoff run, especially in the Cup final. Critics who say he's soft and timid forget that he played a mind-boggling 50 minutes, 46 seconds in that fabulous Game 5 triple-overtime win in Detroit. There wouldn't have been a Game 6 without him.

Whitney just turned 26 Feb. 19.

He will be a very good player again.

One day soon, Penguins fans won't be so happy that he's gone.