With the resumption of the NHL season appearing to be getting closer, Penguins General Manager Jim Rutherford yesterday held a telephone news conference to talk about the playoffs, the pandemic, and his team.
Despite having the seventh-best record in the NHL this year, the Penguins will have to play a play-in series with Montreal, and Rutherford says they were hoping that the league would have just given play-in byes taken the top eight teams, instead of the top four from each conference. Nonetheless he says any opponent, including the Canadiens, will be tough.
Rutherford says the Penguins focus has to be on their own identity, not Montreal’s.
The Penguins’ GM says they are hopeful that Jake Guentzel can play. The talented winger scored twenty goals in the team’s first 39 games before going down with a shoulder injury, and Rutherford says they will need him, especially since Dominick Simon is out and Nick Bjugstad had a setback in his recovery and had more surgery on Tuesday.
Bjugstad missed a large part of the season after having core surgery and was injured on March 8 when he suffered a herniated disc. He will miss the rest of the season.
Asked whether any Penguins players have expressed concern about their safety when they come back, Rutherford said none have, and he knows he has some players who are very eager to return.
Rutherford says the team has a great medical staff and the Penguins have complete confidence in their safety protocols.
Rutherford says the Penguins are optimistic that Pittsburgh can be one of the two hub sites when the NHL resumes play with a 24-team playoff format. The league may wait three to four weeks to make the final decision on the hub sites. The NHL has also told teams that they will likely be able to have 28-player rosters with an unlimited number of goalies.
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