On the Pittsburgh Penguins …
Sam Werner of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Penguins haven’t replaced Nick Bonino’s third-line center slot and GM Jim Rutherford doesn’t feel the pressure to do so. Rutherford said yesterday their search could even go on into the season.
“ more comfortable with that than trading for somebody where I’m not sure whether they can help us or not,” Rutherford said.
If they don’t add someone before the start of the season, head coach Mike Sullivan has already told Rutherford that he “could make it work.”
“The coach is working on that now, looking at what those options are,” Rutherford said.
Internal options could be Jake Guentzel, Scott Wilson, Zach Aston-Reese or Teddy Blueger.
Not much is changing with regards to the trade market.
“There’s a couple of guys I could acquire right now,” he said. “I feel like there’s another group of guys that could possibly be available here soon. Kind of just waiting to see if that happens. Something could happen in the very near future or this could drag on for a little while.”
Carter Rowney looks to be their fourth line center.
Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: The Pittsburgh Penguins have about $3.2 million in salary cap space with a third-line center still on GM Rutherford’s to-do list.
“I’ve got a couple of guys I could get that I think are adequate guys,” he said.
Rutherford will continue to be patient and will wait to see if the trade market for a more impactful center expands.
“Still working on that,” Rutherford said. “I’ll make that deal when it’s one of the guys that I think has a chance to do that job properly. If that’s done today, that would be fine. If it’s done in November or December, we’ll make it work until then.”