Penguins Acquire Elmer Soderblom

According to a team announcement, the Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired forward Elmer Söderblom from the Detroit Red Wings for San Jose’s 2026 third-round pick. The Red Wings have also confirmed the trade.

The writing was on the wall for Söderblom’s tenure in Detroit. Once viewed as a potential long-term fixture in Detroit’s bottom-six, Söderblom has been a frequent healthy scratch by the team this season. Due to the team’s abundance of prospects, he was overlooked on the long-term depth chart.

Still, the Penguins are taking a chance. He doesn’t have the highest offensive upside, but he has tremendous size. Throughout the past three years, Söderblom has scored 18 goals and 46 points in 99 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins, and six goals and 14 points in 65 games with the Red Wings.

Standing at 6’8″ tall, Söderblom will immediately become the biggest player on the Penguins’ roster, standing a few inches taller than Justin Brazeau. Unfortunately, although he has quality hands for someone of his stature, Söderblom doesn’t engage physically as much as he should. He’s amassed 128 hits over his brief NHL career, but the Penguins will likely hope he can increase those numbers to be of more value to the club.

Regardless, he’s only 24 years old and is a reasonable fit on a retooling Pittsburgh team. Despite eyeing an unexpected postseason berth this season, the Penguins were known to be targeting depth pieces with some upside. Given his age and relative skill for his size, acquiring Söderblom for a third-round pick was likely a no-brainer from Pittsburgh’s perspective.