Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford made a surprising admission to Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette when he said on Monday that the Penguins “don’t have any plans to buy guys out.”
It’s surprising because Rutherford had intimated earlier in the offseason that he had approval to proceed with buyouts if he saw fit, and because Rutherford had made a youth movement on defense a priority for this offseason.
“I have full support from the ownership to do what’s necessary going forward to give this team a better chance to win,” Rutherford said in his season-ending press conference. “I think we’ll keep all options on the table in that regard.”
When asked about the team’s plethora of talented young defensemen and the limited opportunities during that same press conference, he seemed ready to hand the reigns to the likes of Derrick Pouliot, Brian Dumoulin and Scott Harringon.
“They have come of age,” Rutherford said. “Their development has come along very nicely. At some point, we have to put these defensemen in, or their development is going to go the other way.”
A month later, Rutherford told Josh Yohe of DK on Pittsburgh Sports that he would likely allow veteran defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and Paul Martin to reach free agency.
“We’re prepared to go younger on defense,” Rutherford said. “We’ll see how it plays out. We would consider bringing them back, but we’ll see.”
That would be a start to the youth movement that Rutherford professed to be enacting this offseason, but it wouldn’t be a full measure.
Martin and Ehrhoff, despite their age and, in Ehrhoff’s case, susceptibility to injury, were by and large productive players when they were on the ice for the Penguins in 2014-15.
Remaining on the squad, however, is veteran blueliner Rob Scuderi. Scuderi, 36, was far less productive than either Martin or Ehrhoff, scoring just one goal while playing in all 82 games.
Scuderi has two seasons remaining on his contract that pays him an average of $3.375 million annually. It’s a salary was questioned by many at the time Scuderi was signed by former general manager Ray Shero.
In the ensuing two years, the contract has quickly become an albatross. Scuderi’s play has come nowhere near justifying the money he earns, while the Penguins salary cap situation was so dire that they played a large part of last season’s stretch run with only five defensemen.
A 36-year old, bottom-pairing defenseman cannot take up that much of the Penguins’ salary if the team expects to be competitive. If a buyout is off the table, perhaps a trade is the cards, but something must be done.
Rutherford made a mistake when he was unable to rid himself Scuderi’s contract before or during last season, and it cost his team when they were forced to play down a man while the aging Scuderi’s minutes increased. Keeping him again this season would be unconscionable.
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