First Call: Jim Rutherford cooling on Penguins trade talk?; Pat Narduzzi on MSU rumors; Duquesne wins

This edition of “First Call” gives us Jim Rutherford’s view of Matt Murray and the trade market. Tom Brady keeps playing coy. Pat Narduzzi is talking himself in circles. And a big road win for Duquesne.

Standing tall

During his Wednesday night radio show on “105.9 the X,” Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford discussed why Matt Murray has improved of late.

Particularly in his most recent victory against the Washington Capitals on Sunday afternoon.

“His posture is much better,” Rutherford said. “He’s more upright. Taking away the higher part of the net from the shooter. He took some really tough shots off the shoulder against Washington. It was because of his position and his posture. It makes such a big difference.”

Rutherford says Murray is starting to look like the goalie who won two Stanley Cups in his first two seasons.

“When he was on his good runs in 2016 and ‘17, and guys were coming in on him, there was nothing to shoot at. I see where he is back to that now,” Rutherford added.

Murray has won six games in a row. Five of those contests have been one-goal results. His save percentage is 92.2% during that stretch. And his goals-against average is 2.66 over those outings.

Given the quality of chances he has seen in many of those games, those numbers may be even better than they appear.

Market watch

Rutherford has been very upfront in discussing that he’d consider giving up a first-round pick to get good return at the trade deadline.

If he absolutely had to do so.

On Wednesday, the general manager seemed to be cooling a bit, based on what he deemed to be available.

“There’s not as many guys (as in years past) on the market place right now,” Rutherford said. “So the prices are a little higher than I’d like. I‘ll continue to try to do something prior to the deadline on a daily basis.”

But Rutherford added, “If the right guy comes along at the right price, we’ll be on it.”

Should that proper deal fail to present itself, Rutherford insists he’s comfortable with his roster.

“If we don’t do anything, we like our team,” Rutherford concluded.

He pointed to the likes of Dominik Kahun, Brian Dumoulin and Nick Bjugstad eventually returning from injury as quasi-trade acquisitions.

Brady’s blazer

Tom Brady is playing some games about his future, while leaking out a little more information.

Brady posted an Instagram story that acted as a Q&A session with his followers. Much like in his Super Bowl commercial, Brady made it sound like he is planning on playing next year.

“I’m not wearing a blazer to the Super Bowl next year,” Brady wrote.

That was a reference to being on the sideline in a blazer as part of the NFL 100 celebration.

But, via ProFootballTalk.com, Brady also took a series of questions from his followers and answered them in Instagram videos. And it’s still unclear if he plans to be back with the New England Patriots.

“He took a question from a person who asked which team he’ll be playing for next year, Brady didn’t answer. Instead, he just silently stared at the camera.”

The drama is starting to ramp up in Foxborough.

Well played.

I’ll give Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi points for humor.

Amid speculation that Narduzzi may leave the Panthers for the vacant head coaching position at Michigan State, Narduzzi tweeted a video of himself as Leonardo DiCaprio in the famous “I’m not leaving” scene from “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

pic.twitter.com/maFEF3oJuc

— Pat Narduzzi (@CoachDuzzPittFB) February 5, 2020

Good job, Pat. I like it.

Much like “The Wolf of Wall Street,” though, Narduzzi’s message was kind of winding and confusing.

During his press conference Wednesday, Narduzzi thumped his podium and tried to adamantly explain that Pitt was the right place for him and that we should “squash” the rumors that he’d leave for East Lansing.

But he also used phrases like “we’ll (he and Pitt A.D. Heather Lyke and Chancellor Patrick Gallagher) go through several discussions in the upcoming days.” He said it’s “his goal” to be at Pitt. And he added he “had decisions to make, too.”

All the while, adamantly stating he wanted to stay.

Narduzzi seemed a bit surprised and perturbed when TribLive’s Kevin Gorman asked to clarify those quotes.

But I could see how they could be interpreted as being somewhat incongruous.

That’s how the Detroit Free Press seemed to view things, too.

Maybe Narduzzi is working out another extension. Maybe he doesn’t want to completely shut the door.

But don’t give us “Next question, c’mon now,” as he did during the press conference, as if to say there is no fire to this smoke.

Yet, then tell us how there were multiple conversations last night with Lyke and Gallagher and have Lyke say Wednesday that Narduzzi needed to sleep on it.

Sleep on what?

Obviously, there was something Narduzzi was considering. Either an offer, or the notion of reaching out to inquire.

Spirit of St. Louis

Duquesne won a key road game in Atlantic 10 action. The Dukes beat St. Louis 82-68 Wednesday night.

That win elevated Keith Dambrot’s team to 7-3, good for a tie for third place in the A-10. And it dropped the Billikens to 6-4, down to seventh in the conference.

So that was a big swing game within the pack of teams trying to track down Dayton and Rhode Island atop the standings.

Marcus Weathers was excellent. He had 26 points. That tied his career high, which was set against St. Louis this season.

We guess he's called Air Weathers for a reason #GoDukes pic.twitter.com/Dv6S1o9L7H

— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) February 6, 2020

The win gives the Dukes (17-5) their best 22-game record since 1971-72 (18-4).