2 more deals strengthen team

Ihave learned to trust Jim Rutherford and Mike Sullivan. Two Stanley Cups in the four-plus years they have worked together are awfully convincing. If Rutherford tells me newly acquired Patrick Marleau still has plenty left at 40, including a burning desire to win his first Cup, I’m believing him. If Rutherford says Sullivan really likes newly re-acquired Conor Sheary and was willing to give up Dominik Kahun to get him, I’m nodding yes in agreement.

I certainly am not going to argue Rutherford’s bottom-line assessment Monday at the end of a very long NHL trade deadline day:

“We feel good about our team. We have felt good about it all year. We feel better today. We

feel we’ve got a stronger team. The Penguins have improved.”

The team’s one glaring need, aside from good health, was depth at forward. If they are going to be successful in the playoffs, they need to roll four lines. The past couple of weeks, because of injuries to Nick Bjugstad, Zach Aston-Reese and Kahun, they tried to get by with three. It wasn’t a good look.

“We were always in a position that the top three lines probably were playing a little bit more than they should,” Rutherford said. “Trying to get their minutes down that we can come — and come hard — shift after shift with four lines, that’s what we should be able to do now.”

Getting Marleau for a conditional third-round draft choice made a lot of sense. He can play left wing on any of the four lines and has played internationally with Sidney Crosby, although Rutherford acknowledged Jason Zucker “probably is the best fit” with Crosby.

“He brings leadership, but he’s still a good player,” Rutherford said of Marleau. “He can still really skate. His desire to get that ultimate prize is going to be big for him. His time is running out. He should be a good fit for us.”

Rutherford had to do a little more to convince me about bringing Sheary back. Kahun was doing just fine on Evgeni Malkin’s line before he went out with a couple of injuries. I know Sheary helped the Penguins win their two Cups in 2016 and 2017, but I’m not a big believer in a guy coming home and being successful again.

“He was pretty pumped when I talked to him,” Rutherford said of Sheary. “The coaches felt very strong when his name came up, [that] it would be seamless for him coming back in here. He didn’t leave here because we didn’t like him. He left here [in a trade with Buffalo in June 2018] because it was a cap situation. He was a good player for us in the two Cup runs. He’s still a capable guy.”

Marleau and Sheary give Sullivan plenty of options.

“Certainly, the guys we’ve got can move around,” Rutherford said. “They can move up and down the lineup.

They can move to their opposite wing or to center. Having that kind of flexibility for the coach makes it easier for him.”

It’s intriguing to think of possible line combinations:

• Zucker-Crosby-Dominik Simon

• Marleau (or Sheary)Malkin-Bryan Rust

• Sheary (or Marleau)Jared McCann-Patric Hornqvist

• Aston-Reese (once healthy)-Teddy BluegerBrandon Tanev.

Bjugstad would be the extra forward when he gets back.

Of course, it wouldn’t hurt if some of the secondary scorers started chipping in a little more.

Simon has no goals in nine games. Rust has one goal in 10 games. McCann has no goals in 15 games. Tanev has one goal in 16 games. Blueger has two goals in 12 games. AstonReese had one goal in 16 games before missing the past four with a lower-body injury.

It’s reasonable to expect more.

I have no problem that Rutherford kept his status quo on defense, figuring that Brian Dumolin and John Marino will be back “sooner than later.” He said he considered his options, but “nothing made sense for us on defense.” Possible pairings:

• Dumoulin (once healthy)-Kris Letang.

• Marcus PetterssonMarino (once healthy)

• Jack Johnson-Justin Schultz.

Chad Ruhwedel, Zach Trotman and Juuso Riikola would be the extra defensemen when everyone is healthy.

“We have nine NHL defensemen in the organization,” Rutherford said. “When we have a whole team, we’ll see what we’ve really got.”

Rutherford has put his club on the ice with Sullivan’s approval.

What you see is what you get.

Rutherford and Sullivan like it.

I like it.