ANAHEIM, Calif. — NHL players are conditioned to expect the unexpected when the trade deadline approaches, but Simon Despres never thought he’d be here, playing against the only NHL team he had known just four days after being dealt.
The Penguins traded the Despres, 23, to the Ducks for defenseman Ben Lovejoy on Monday, ending his tenure in Pittsburgh as one marked by seemingly major potential, but inconsistent results.
“Yeah, [I was] definitely surprised, was definitely emotional a bit,” Despres said before the Penguins game Friday against the Ducks. “I wasn’t expecting it.”
Despres has played two games for Anaheim since joining the team earlier this week, playing at least 20 minutes both nights. He only topped the 20-minute mark in nine of his 59 games with the Penguins this year.
Despres scored his first point as a Duck Tuesday night, notching an assist on Andrew Cogliano’s winning goal in Anaheim’s 4-1 victory against Arizona.
“There’s a lot to like about him,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “He’s been very good with the puck, he hasn’t had panic turnovers. He might be a little bit nervous tonight playing his old boys, but so far he’s been really good with it.”
Despres said hello to some of his former teammates at the morning skate, but said he wasn’t afraid about trying to get under their skin on the ice.
Plus, playing your former team so soon after being traded has some advantages,
“I’ve been in Pittsburgh for six years, been practicing with them for a long time,” Despres said. “I know their moves, I know how they play. I don’t need a refreshment about it.”
Boudreau faces old ’friends’
While the Penguins haven’t faced the Ducks since beating them in the season opener, Boudreau is familiar with the the team’s personnel.
Boudreau coached the Washington Capitals from 2007-11, and compiled a 12-1-3 regular season record against the Penguins in that time.
“The Caps and Pittsburgh always had such a great rivalry, it was always more of an emotional game than it was just straight systems and everything else,” Boudreau said. “Especially when they beat us in the playoffs in seven games [in 2009], after that, every time we played them we wanted to beat them more than we wanted to beat anybody else.”
A little sunshine
For most of the Penguins, this weekend’s trip to Southern California is a chance to see the sun in the middle of a bleak Pittsburgh winter.
For Beau Bennett, it’s also a chance to see friends and family.
Bennett, a native of Gardena, Calif., just southwest of Los Angeles, said he’ll have people in attendance both Friday night in Anaheim and tonight in Los Angeles.
“It’s going to be pretty crazy both nights,” Bennett said.
Sam Werner: swerner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SWernerPG.
First Published: March 7, 2015, 5:00 a.m.