Aggressive Rutherford stands still for now

So keep Brassard. Let him learn some in camp. Try him with Phil Kessel or Bryan Rust or Daniel Sprong or Patric Hornqvist. See what happens. Maybe he fits.

You also could look at Carl Hagelin and think about trading him for someone who might add a little more offense, a younger player who’s not on an expiring contract. That, however, would take Hagelin away from Evgeni Malkin, where Hagelin excels at using his speed, retrieving pucks and injecting a sense of responsibility into a line that easily could include Kessel.

The Penguins like Hagelin a lot. Probably best to let that one go — unless there’s some other huge need that crops up.

Someone might view Jarry as a trade piece. He’s a future No. 1 goaltender, and those guys don’t grow on trees. But Rutherford never would let Jarry get away for peanuts, and the Penguins know all too well the importance of hoarding good goalies (see Fleury, Marc-Andre).

So keep Jarry. See if Matt Murray can stay healthy and make sure last year was an outlier in his career, something you chalk up to the death of his father and a few growing pains.

Fact is, waiting and staying patient isn’t even the toughest part of the offseason for Rutherford, at least not directly. No, the hardest part has been fighting off the urge to get things going again.

Their first time without Stanley Cup celebrations in a couple of years, the Penguins are ready to go — but there’s still about six weeks until the start of camp.

“It’s quite a bit different than the last two offseasons, where, at this point, everyone is still feeling tired and celebrating,” Rutherford said. “Now we have that extra month’s rest and no celebration. That’s probably the biggest thing that this team needed.”