Jim Rutherford, Penguins just happy to 'compete for the (Stanley) Cup'

Little of this is ideal.

Nothing has gone as scripted.

At best, it’s highly inconvenient.

Regardless, Jim Rutherford is happy. The team he has constructed will have an opportunity — if nothing else unforeseen occurs — to compete for the Stanley Cup.

“We’re at a point that we’re all looking forward to, to get back to talking about hockey again,” the Penguins general manager said during a conference call with local reporters Wednesday. “This is an exciting time. We’re hoping that everything has been put together and with all the protocols everything, that we can keep everybody safe and get our games going again.”

On Tuesday, the NHL unveiled its plan for completing the 2019-20 season which has been in limbo since March 12 because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. While this plan will be implemented at the behest of various jurisdictions, the league could resume play by late July.

The plan calls for the Penguins to compete in a qualifying round to officially enter the Stanley Cup playoffs. As the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, the Penguins (40-23-6, 86 points) would face the No. 12 Canadiens who, under normal circumstances, were likely bound to miss the postseason.

While respectful of the Canadiens (31-31-9, 71 points), Rutherford is hardly leery of playing them. He did, however, express a desire his team could have avoided the qualifying round altogether and get an immediate bid into the formal playoffs as a round-robin team.

“From the Penguins’ point of view, the thing that we talk about the most was the fact that we had the seventh-best record in the league when we shut down,” Rutherford said. “… We were hoping we would not have to be in the play-in (qualifying round). We were hoping we would be automatically in.

“That being said, it’s not about any team that we play. The 24 teams that are in, any one of those teams could win a series.”

While little of this is normal, one thing appears to be static. The Penguins, as they normally do, will adopt a mindset of focusing on their own game, even if games might not be played for another two months, at best.

“I don’t think we should be sitting here thinking about our opponent,” Rutherford said. “We should be doing what we did when we won Stanley Cup (titles). We should come in, play our own game, have our own players prepared and just play. That’s what we’re going to do.”

Rutherford addressed a number of subjects:

• Oft-injured forward Nick Bjugstad will miss the remainder of the season because of an herniated disc which required surgery on Tuesday. He missed 56 of a possible 69 games this season, primarily with a core muscle injury that required surgery in November. After briefly returning to the lineup in early March, he suffered his current injury.

“Bjugstad had a setback in his rehab,” Rutherford said. “He had surgery (Tuesday), and he won’t be available for the rest of this season.”

• Rutherford was more upbeat regarding injured forward Jake Guentzel, who underwent surgery on his right shoulder Dec. 31. The initial time frame for his recovery offered by the team was four to six months.

“Jake is going through his rehab,” Rutherford said. “Things are progressing fine.” Rutherford is “optimistic” Guentzel will be available to play.

• Rutherford lauded the play of rookie forwards Anthony Angello and Sam Lafferty this season and identified Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forwards Adam Johnson and Phil Varone as players who could be recalled, if the NHL permits expanded rosters, due to their previous NHL experience.

• Rutherford was specifically asked what concerns there were regarding defenseman Kris Letang, who suffered a stroke in 2014, and potentially exposing him to the coronavirus. “At this point in time, we do not have any concerns as whether Kris will be able to play or not,” Rutherford said. “It’s my understanding that he’s fine.”

• Pittsburgh was one of 10 cities the NHL identified as potential “hub” cities that could host games. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly left open the possibility a team might play games in other cities while its arena is used for other games.

“I’m open to wherever we play,” Rutherford said. “It will end up being the same for all teams when you’re playing in a hub city. So I’m open to that.”

• While Rutherford is indifferent on where the Penguins could play, he was willing to bang the drum for Pittsburgh’s credentials as a hub city.

“There are guidelines,” Rutherford said. “Certainly from Pittsburgh’s point of view and the Penguins’ point of view, we can reach those guidelines. We have a state of the art facility in Cranberry, the (UPMC) Lemieux Complex with the medical center attached. And we have plenty of hotels and everything like that. We meet the criteria, but we also understand there’s other cities that do also.”

• The prospect of playing playoff games in August doesn’t seem to bother Rutherford.

“I like it,” he said. “It’s not ideal. It’s not the traditional way. But nothing is these days. But just the fact that the players and the owners wanted to play and figured out a way to play. Our game is indoors. Obviously, it’s going to be hot outside. But the fact that we will do our best to complete this and have a Stanley Cup winner for this season, I think is really important and is really good.”

• And Rutherford thoroughly endorsed the possibility of starting the 2020-21 season as late as November, December or January:

“To delay next season, I think it’s really good,” Rutherford said. “The longer we delay it, the better. Get to a point to where we can get our most important people back in, our fans, to see our games. The further we push next season out, the better chance of that happening.”

• The Penguins, like most businesses, have been impacted negatively by the pandemic economically. Despite that, Rutherford said the Penguins plan to remain a franchise that spends to the NHL’s salary cap limit.

“Our ownership is terrific,” Rutherford said. “We’ve had a lot of discussions about projections as to where this goes next year and everything. It’s very hard to project. But the one thing (co-owners Ron Burkle and Mario Lemieux) have said is that with the group we have, we will contend for a Stanley Cup and that we’ll be a cap team.”

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