DALLAS -- Amid palm trees and a garish, faux Manhattan skyline behind him, Jim Rutherford spoke passionately last December in Las Vegas about wanting to keep his team intact, about giving the two-time Stanley Cup champions a shot at winning a third.
At the time, Rutherford's club had been struggling. They'd been hemorrhaging odd-man breaks, weren't receiving the secondary scoring they had been banking on. Their franchise goalie was coming off injury. All of the above factors would later come back to ultimately seal his team's fate, but Rutherford didn't want to be the one to break up the band, didn't want to be the Yoko to his Beatles.
But when the Penguins didn't threepeat, a lofty goal that consumed the organization in 2017-18, Rutherford was freed from the burden of chasing history. These days, the Penguins general manager sounds a lot like a man who is ready to move on from the recent past.
By no means does that suggest that the 2018-19 Penguins will be a dramatically different team than the one which took the ice for Game 6 against Washington when Evgeny Kuznetsov's breakaway goal in overtime ended their season. Though Rutherford took no solace in losing to the eventual Cup champions, he said his team wasn't good enough.
No, the Penguins are not in dire need of an extra makeover. But some changes are required and some familiar names could be moved. If past history serves as any precursor, that will happen this weekend at the American Airlines Center.
Though July 1 is officially the start of the free agent signing period (teams can open negotiations next week), the draft has become, second only to the trade deadline, the busiest time of the year for player movement. It has certainly been Rutherford's modus operandi. It's just what he does.
The GM has pulled off trades in three of his previous four drafts with the Penguins, including the 2014 deal that brought Patric Hornqvist from Nashville for James Neal, the 2016 trade of Beau Bennett to New Jersey and last summer's deal for Ryan Reaves from St. Louis.
If no deals are struck this weekend in Dallas, then certainly pay attention on July 1. Rutherford's biggest trade to date during his Pittsburgh tenure -- acquiring Phil Kessel from Toronto -- was finalized on Canada Day.
But without shedding a big-ticket contract or two, it remains to be seen how Rutherford can make any trade of that magnitude. If a deal is to get done, he will have to get creative as he did in the trade that brought Derick Brassard to Pittsburgh. Though the salary cap is expected to rise from $75 million to between $79.5 and $80 million next season, the largest increase in four years, Rutherford's hands are still likely to be tied.
The Penguins already have $70.2 million committed in contracts for next season and that's before notable restricted free agent forwards Tom Kuhnhackl, Bryan Rust, Riley Sheahan and Dominik Simon, along with defenseman Jamie Oleksiak. Carter Rowney and Josh Jooris are the only UFAs of note. Rutherford reiterated to DKPittsburghSports.com late last week that all RFAs would be extended qualifying offers. But the GM said flatly that he had no update on negotiations with Rust, the most valuable and versatile of the bunch.
"If everything keeps going the way they're going for us, not even knowing what the cap is, but if we just sign the players that we have to sign here, our RFAs, we're going to have our nose right up against the cap," Rutherford told DKPittsburghSports.com. "There won't be a lot of activity on July 1. Now if we get to that period when we can start talking to the UFAs and there's someone who really wants to come here and we really like the player, that's a point in time where I'd maybe look at opening up some cap space and trying to move a guy out to do that. But that's a little premature until we get into the week leading up to July 1."
One move that seems highly unlikely is for Rutherford trading up into the first round of the draft this weekend. He isn't going to do it just to do it.
"Just to get into the first round? The last part of the first round? I don’t believe it’s worth paying the price at this time,” he said.
The Penguins do not hold a first-round pick for the fourth straight year but they do have six selections, beginning with the 53rd overall pick in the second round followed by No. 64 in the third, Nos. 129 and 146 in the fifth, No. 177 in the sixth and No. 208 in the seventh.
With the onus shifting to winning three Cups in four years, Rutherford's mission over the next 10 days or so is to add prospects at the draft and bolster the roster at the NHL level via trade or free agency.
WHAT THE PENGUINS NEED
"We feel good about the future," Rutherford was telling me. "If there’s any consolation, it’s the fact that we’re going to have an extra month's rest."
Surely, a full offseason will help the Penguins, who were slow to get out of the gate last season. Theres's no Stanley Cup hangover to speak of. The core of the 2016 and '17 championship teams will remain intact, but Rutherford knows the roster will need some tweaks if it's to win the Cup again.
• The strength of the Penguins' roster remains down the middle with an embarrassment of riches in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Brassard and Riley Sheahan. It's plausible that Rutherford could be willing to part with one of the two bottom-six centers if he can bring in some help on the wing. Daniel Sprong and Zach Aston-Reese will be welcome additions but the Penguins could use an infusion of size on the wing, especially in the bottom six.
• Rutherford was most confident in his defense corps saying they have seven NHL-caliber blueliners, including Matt Hunwick and Chad Ruwhedel. Both saw considerable time in the press box last season but both are fairly interchangeable as a No. 7. Beyond that, though, the organizational depth at the position is very thin. With Andrey Pedan and Lukas Bengtsson returning home to Europe, Rutherford signed Juuso Rikola, who played well at the IIHF World Championship earlier this spring. Rikola, 24, provides some options, but I'd suspect Rutherford will go heavily on defense in the draft and that a veteran depth defenseman will be signed in free agency.
• The Penguins were certainly pleased with what they received from backup goalies Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith, but could the organization and Matt Murray be better served by having a more seasoned veteran behind him? Perhaps. With due respect to Jarry and DeSmith, neither pushed, let alone threatened, Murray as the clear-cut No. 1. Murray did his best work the previous two seasons with Marc-Andre Fleury around to mentor and compete against him. That dynamic was sorely lacking last season.
WHAT THEY HAVE TO OFFER
Before breaking for the season during the team's locker room clean out, Rutherford spoke of having "the pieces in place that are players that other teams are going to want that we’re going to be able to make those changes."
Who did he mean?
• Kessel is clearly the biggest card that Rutherford could play. His name has been the subject of rampant rumor since the end of the season. Surely the Penguins could use $6.8 million in cap space and would love to avoid a potential headache if Kessel and Mike Sullivan can't play nicely. But Kessel has a no-movement clause and it remains to be seen how the Penguins could possibly replace his 92 points.
• Carl Hagelin is an outstanding fit in Sullivan's system and enjoyed his best statistical season with the Penguins in 2017-18. But he's a player whose game is built on speed and who turns 30 in August. He'll also be entering the final year of a contract that comes with a $4 million cap hit. As valuable as he is to the Penguins, that's a lot of money for a player who scored just 10 goals.
• Sheary was a disappointment after signing a three-year, $9 million extension last summer. He was plagued by inconsistency around the net and when he's not scoring, the undersized Sheary has to do more. But he is a two-time champion and some team could find that intriguing.
• Hunwick has been a solid pro over the course of his career but a change of scenery could do him some good after showing to be a poor fit last season. He played in just 42 games and was regularly a healthy scratch. Any team that is willing to take him on would be taking on a contract that comes with a $5 million cap hit over the next two seasons.
• If Rutherford decides to bring in a veteran goalie (remember, that was the idea last season with Antti Niemi) or the organization feels that they can get by with DeSmith as Murray's backup, that could make Jarry a fairly strong trading chip. Before Murray's breakthrough in 2015, Jarry was considered the Penguins' goalie of the future. He might not be that, but Jarry showed himself to be a quality NHL goalie last winter.