On the Pittsburgh Penguins …
Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Penguins GM Jim Rutherford has said recently that they would like at bring in another defenseman before the trade deadline. They lost two Justin Schultz and Olli Maatta to injuries last week, but Rutherford said they may not make a move sooner just because the two are out.
“I don’t think it changes a whole lot,” he said. “Everybody is going to move their players at their own time. I don’t think, necessarily, that they’re going to move up the date on when they decide to move any of their players.
“We were considering a defenseman going into the trade deadline, and we’ll consider doing that. Whether we’re able to pick up one or two, we’ll have to see what the market is.”
The Penguins are in a seeding battle in the Metropolitan division and may be able to afford to stand pat.
“We have a lot of games between now and , so we have to address that,” Rutherford said. “We have depth guys in our organization who we believe in, so we’ll just move when we feel the right trade comes along.”
Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazatte: (mailbag) There is zero truth to the rumor that the Penguins would trade defenseman Justin Schultz (Mackey hasn’t heard of it. Either have we).
The Penguins would like to add a some depth to their blueline. They could also use a tougher, nastier forward.
Wouldn’t be a shock if the Penguins traded forward Eric Fehr. He doesn’t really fit into their play and they could use the extra cap space. They don’t really have to trade him, but they may not be against it.
Not sure if the Penguins would be smart to mortgage their future to trade for Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Duchene. They would likely have to include Daniel Sprong, and can’t see them wanting to trade him.