Pittsburgh GM explains his latest trade and the next one coming!

The Pittsburgh Penguins are in a rare position. One that finds them willing to trade any and everyone not named Malkin and Crosby. The craziest part may be that everyone around the league knows a phone call from GM, Jim Rutherford is coming, so you have to wonder how this plays into the leverage of negotiations.

The Pens GM spoke to the media to comment on the Pens latest trade of Nick Bjugstad and what could be happening next. Us in the media love Rutherford, he's as open and honest as any executive in sports:

Well, I’d really like to be able to get there, to be at the point where we can do something in free agency, but we aren’t there yet. You’ve got to realize that teams don’t know how much money they’ll be making next season and moving forward. Plus, teams all thought (before the pandemic) the salary cap for next season was going to be anywhere between $3 million and $6 million higher than what it is. So, everyone is in a pretty difficult situation, and that includes us. First things first, we need to get to a point where we are comfortable that we’ll be compliant with the cap. We’ll see what happens between then and now. It’s been an extremely busy five or six weeks.

When asked about if another move was coming, Rutherford laughed and said - 'Yes'. He then spoke about the recent chatter around the league:

Phone is ringing a lot. There’s a lot of talk about a lot of things around the league right now. Everybody is trying to put themselves in a spot where they are comfortable financially. In today’s climate, it’s really tough. Everyone is trying to make deals, but coming up with fair deals is really hard. Everyone is worried about the cap. Everyone. Not just this year, but into the future. And remember, we have an expansion draft next season. There are so, so many variables right now. It’s just not easy for anyone. But that said, we have some moves to make, and we’d like to change this team around.  

Photo credit:  Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire