CALGARY, Alberta — Just go ride the bike. Or go to the gym. The instructions weren’t exactly clear, but in the following hour, everything fell into place as the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Ilya Solovyov from the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday in exchange for forward Valtteri Puustinen, who had been relegated to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for most of the last two seasons.

Solovyov is with the NHL club, and the morning skate on Wednesday was his first time on the ice with some of his new teammates.

First, the Belarusian’s name is pronounced So-lOvy-ov.

Wednesday morning, he also detailed the life of a hockey player who is about to be traded, but doens’t yet know it.

“No, I wasn’t expecting anything. It’s probably like every player, except the stars, honestly, that I was on the practice rink yesterday with the team. We had a bunch of meetings. So, the coaches had told me to be ready for the game (Tuesday),” Solovyov said. “I expected to go on the ice, we had an optional ice there, and I expected to go with the goalies, take some shots, you know, like practicing a little bit.

“Then the head coach came and said, ‘Hey, the general manager told me you don’t have to go on the ice.’ For no reason. Like, stay away from the ice. Just do the bike, the gym, whatever you want. Focus on recovery.”

Some 45 minutes later, everything became clear.

“And then after 40, 45 minutes, (coach) called me in his office, and he and the general manager told me that I have been traded to Pittsburgh.”

Solovyov, 25, is a big boy. Even sitting in his dressing stall, the 6-foot-3 defenseman looks a little bit sturdier than 208 pounds. He modestly didn’t steer too selfishly into what role he’d like to fill for the team or what traits of his game would be most helpful.

In that way, the Penguins’ new defenseman was humble, if not shy.

“I don’t know. Honestly, it’s a hard question. Like, I think I will bring the few shots from the blue line,” said Solovyov. “It’s 1,000%, and maybe the physicality, (with) strong, hard play in the D zone. And maybe something in the O zone, as well. Who knows?

Solovyov scored his first NHL goal earlier this season and has three points (1-2-3) in 16 games. The defenseman likely won’t play Wednesday against the Calgary Flames, the team that drafted him in the seventh round of the 2020 NHL Draft. However, his report to the NHL club would indicate that he may be in the lineup eventually.

The Penguins now have five left-handed defensemen on the NHL roster (Parker Wotherspoon, Brett Kulak, Ryan Graves, and Ryan Shea are the other four).

Tags: Ilya Solovyov Penguins Trade Pittsburgh Penguins

Categorized: Penguins Locker Room Penguins Trade Talk Pittsburgh Penguins