Draft day deals part of GM’s routine
on something, that spigot shuts off. Big time.
Happened with Phil Kessel.
Happened with Derick Brassard. Happened Tuesday. Rutherford is never rude, but he’s noticeably focused and his answers are clipped, the GM seemingly set on not saying anything to upset — or even so much as sway — the apple cart.
“I wouldn’t try to answer that,” Rutherford replied when asked the likelihood of him abstaining from trade action before or during the draft — simply making his six picks and flying home.
Rutherford though, doesn’t need to answer the question. History answers it for him. It’s incredibly unlikely Rutherford abstains from trade action over the next few days.
Just think about Rutherford’s four drafts with the Penguins. You had the James Neal-for-Patric Hornqvist swap in 2014, Beau Bennett for a third-rounder two years later, and the acquisition of Ryan Reaves last summer.
Plus, the draft where Rutherford didn’t make a deal arguably was his busiest. That was 2015 at BB&T Center in South Florida, when the bulk of the groundwork was laid for the Kessel deal.
You saw Rutherford repeatedly meeting with President/CEO David Morehouse. Then Mike Johnston. The side sessions were continuous, and the Penguins saved the best for last.
After 95 percent of attendees had left, and the cleaning crew was stacking chairs and sweeping the draft floor, the Penguins held an impromptu staff meeting. For nearly an hour.
The Kessel deal didn’t come together that day, but it wasn’t for lack of effort on Rutherford’s part.
The state of the Penguins is vastly different this time around, but there are similar strands: Rutherford wants to improve his team’s balance, and the possibility of a Kessel trade remains a thing.
If you’re readying for the draft and wondering whether that Kessel jersey you bought will be useless by next Tuesday, consider this: Rutherford said Tuesday that the Penguins have not approached Kessel about the possibility that he may be dealt.
That’s key because Kessel holds a no-movement clause that’s believed to include 10 teams. If a potential Kessel deal was on the horizon, chances are the idea would’ve been broached with Kessel, his agent or both.
Which brings us to another factor Rutherford must consider: cap space. Without moving Kessel — or another prominent player — Rutherford doesn’t have much of it.
The cap ceiling isn’t yet known, but it’s supposed to be determined and announced within the next 48 hours. At that time, Rutherford will have a greater idea how many restricted free agents he can fit and what those contracts might look like.
No matter how you slice it, though. Rutherford isn’t likely to have much wiggle room. In order to do anything of significance — he’s on record saying he would like a third-pairing defenseman who can play the right side – Rutherford must send dollars out to bring dollars in.
The most likely to move are Matt Hunwick, Conor Sheary and Carl Hagelin. Hunwick because he did not fit, Sheary because the Penguins have plenty of young talent on the wings, and Hagelin because he’s in the final year of a contract and should be coveted by other teams.
Kessel and Derick Brassard remain options, though not likely ones. If Rutherford chooses, he could also play the Tristan Jarry card and move the young goaltender that at least one other team likely would see as a key building block for the future.
Expect Rutherford to be in listen mode.
Don’t expect him to be in do-something-stupid mode.
“I’d like to have more balance in the forwards and defense,” Rutherford said. “As far as our forwards, that could be done from within, possibly. From our defense, possibly adding one more defenseman. I suppose we could try to do it from within, again. But, if the right available defenseman came along, we’d consider changing things up a little bit there.”
Besides a laser-focus and desire not to say too much when there’s prey in sight, there’s a couple of other characteristics of Rutherford at play here.
Two of his favorite times for deals are a good month or two before the trade deadline — he joked about missing his January deadline when the third-line center search labored on last season — and now, around the draft.
Consider that Rutherford has made 29 draft-day trades since 1994 and has done something more than 70 percent of the time (17 of 24 occasions). The challenge here willbe what and how.
Rutherford said a move into the first round is unlikely — “Not as we sit here today,” he said — and there are certainly some challenges with the idea of freeing up cap space via Sheary or Hunwick, a player who once scored four times in 44 games and another who didn’t play ina single playoff game.
But things can change witha single phone call.
“You’re asking questions with so many variables,” Rutherford said. “So many thing scan happen.”