Tim Benz: Should we buy Brian Burke's hard sell about the idea of a quiet trade deadline for the Penguins?

Penguins president of hockey operations Brian Burke is doing a really hard sell on not buying at the trade deadline.

So much, in fact, that every time he addresses the topic, I now find myself more convinced that the Pens are going 180 degrees the other way toward being the most active franchise in the league on March 21.

Call me cynical, but between the NFL Draft and the NHL trade deadline, March and April are the misinformation months on the calendar. If you hear one thing from a team official, it may be wise to believe the opposite.

Speaking on the Penguins Radio Network Coach/GM show Wednesday, Burke told host Josh Getzoff that the audience shouldn’t hold its breath waiting for a large-scale trade.

“I sense that this is going to be a late and quick-reacting deadline. If we do anything,” Burke said on the program Wednesday. “We are capped out. For us to add a significant piece, we’d have to move money out. Money out, for money in. And we aren’t in a position to do much of that because we like our team. We like our players.”

As Burke said, Cap Friendly has the Penguins at $0 in cap room, with $4.42 million stashed on long-term injured reserve. One player who is coming off the injured list is defenseman Mike Matheson, an occasional subject of trade talks.

But Burke says don’t believe it, even though Matheson’s cap number is $4.87 million.

“We love Mike Matheson,” Burke said. “He is a quality person and a good player. It’s not like we’re (thinking), ‘Oh, geez, if we could move Mike, we could do … this.’ So we might do nothing.”

That all sounds good. But the Penguins do need some sort of help. Be it another scoring wing to replace the slumping Kasperi Kapanen. Perhaps a quality two-way forward to play in the bottom six and add some skill. That way, Jeff Carter can stay on Evgeni Malkin’s line. Or maybe a rugged defenseman who can clear out the net-front a little bit on defense.

As Burke said, acquiring any such player that fits any of those descriptions would likely mean moving an asset out of the current lineup.

That may just have to happen, though. The Penguins are 3-4-1 in their last eight games. Their next four contests are against teams currently in a playoff position. Then they get the suddenly scalding Arizona Coyotes who have won four in a row.

Currently, the Penguins have 77 points. That’s good for a second-place tie in the Metropolitan Division with the New York Rangers, eight back of first-place Carolina and a five-point cushion on the fourth-place Washington Capitals. Washington has won three of its last four games and has gotten at least one point in each of them.

As Burke said, there’s plenty to like about the Penguins’ current players. But some of them have to do more. Burke himself called out Kapanen during that same interview with Getzoff.

Can you blame Burke for doing so? Kapanen hasn’t scored in 17 games. Evan Rodrigues has just one goal since Jan. 16. Zach Aston-Reese has just one goal on the season. Those are holes the Penguins can fill with more consistent offensive players.

No matter how hard Burke is trying to make us believe there’s not much reason — or ability — to make many moves of consequence.

In this week’s hockey podcast with Seth Rorabaugh, we talk about the prospects for a Penguins trade at the deadline. We also analyze the current state of the Eastern Conference, Kasperi Kapanen’s slump and Friday’s game at PPG Paints Arena against the Vegas Golden Knights.