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Rutherford Full of Surprises but is this Mission Impossible? | PHN+

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NHL trade, Pittsburgh Penguins trade Marc-Andre Fleury

We know the Pittsburgh Penguins would like former Penguins goalie and all-around great guy Marc-Andre Fleury back in Pittsburgh. As a city, we also expect Fleury to excitedly return. And so two years after the Penguins gave the Vegas Golden Knights a second-round pick to ensure Fleury’s selection the Vegas expansion draft, heir apparent Matt Murray is gone and the Penguins have a serious case of nostalgia.

In recent years, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford has not only pulled a few rabbits out of his GM hat, but he also stunned the NHL collective in the process. Center Derrick Brassard may have been a bust with the Penguins, but he was the most sought after player at the 2018 NHL trade deadline.

Getting him was quite a feat, but the 2020 mad scramble offseason has been a new set of salary cap challenges.

Rutherford cautioned he would be patient moving forward.

“I don’t believe we’ll make any more moves immediately,” said Rutherford on Friday. “I think now is the time to sit back for a few days and see what else might come along. So that’s the plan for right now.”

The Pittsburgh Penguins have since added depth players to support the NHL team from the WBS Penguins of the AHL, including goalie Maxime Legace. However, in our efforts to find additional Penguins free-agent targets or missed targets, we had a quick exchange, which gave us pause.

A league source dropped a cryptic comment to PHN on Sunday when discussing the possibility of signing a veteran right-side defenseman.

“(Rutherford) has other things on his agenda,” the source said.

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