First Call: Jim Rutherford keeps trade talk open on Evgeni Malkin, Matt Murray. Bounce back for JuJu? Marte Par-tay in Miami.

The trade action could be swift on Penguins goalie Matt Murray, and general manager Jim Rutherford is letting speculation linger about Evgeni Malkin.

That’s how we start Wednesday’s “First Call.”

Meanwhile, former Pirates outfielder Starling Marte has started his new chapter in Miami with a bang. Someone is thinking JuJu Smith-Schuster will have a bounce back year in 2020. And NFL running backs are making headlines everywhere.

#GenoWatch?

Eh, not quite.

But Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford is refusing to close the door on a potential trade of Penguins superstar Evgeni Malkin.

Appearing on The Athletic’s “Two Man Advantage” podcast, Rutherford reiterated his plans to retain his core players.

“I’m not in a hurry and not trying to trade any of those top guys,” Rutherford said.

But when host Pierre LeBrun asked specifically about Malkin, Rutherford preceded that statement by saying, “I’m not shopping him. I’m not shopping our core players But we all know that in our game, one of the greatest players, if not the greatest player in our league in (Wayne) Gretzky, was traded. You want to always listen if somebody’s got something to offer.”

As he did in the wake of the Penguins’ season-ending qualifying-round loss to the Montreal Canadiens, Rutherford once again put his roster’s level of desire up for debate.

“Sid is going to give all he got, and he will drive though to win as many Stanley Cups as he can,” Rutherford said. “You wonder about guys. They have won two, three Cups, and they have a great legacy already. You still want to win again, but do you still have that same drive as when you were trying to win the first one? And the second one? And the third one? I sit there and wonder sometimes.”

You can hear the full podcast here.

Movement for Murray?

Penguins goalie Matt Murray is rated as the No.1 player on the TSN.ca trade board.

TSN senior hockey writer Frank Seravalli put it together. He says the ranking seeks to blend a player’s prominence with his likelihood of a trade.

Seeing as how players such as Patrik Laine and Oliver Ekman-Larsson are ranked fifth and sixth, Murray must have that lofty position based on the probability of a deal coming to fruition. The emergence of Tristan Jarry this year certainly had a lot to do with that.

Penguins defenseman Kris Letang is rated 10th and Jared McCann is 16th. Again, McCann probably rates that highly because it’s certainly understandable why the Penguins would want to trade him, given his scoring inconsistencies.

And Letang is probably as high as he is because of his talent. But his cost ($15 million remaining over two years) and injury history bump him down into the middle of the top 20.

The only other goalie in the top 10? You guessed it. Former Penguin Marc-Andre Fleury. He has two years remaining on his contract in Las Vegas, at a cap hit of $7 million.

In that podcast with The Atheltic, Rutherford added that he has “a couple of offers on the table” for his two goaltenders. But he has nothing that would rise “to the level” to make a trade yet.

Marte Partay

Starling Marte made his debut with the Miami Marlins Tuesday. It was his first game with the team since being traded there from Arizona on Monday.

And he made quite an impact.

In his first game with his new team, Starling Marte homers to complete the @Marlins comeback. pic.twitter.com/7XtEmKke7a

— MLB (@MLB) September 2, 2020

That home run went 438 feet. It was Marte’s third of the year. It gave the Marlins a 3-2 lead on the Toronto Blue Jays in the eighth inning. Miami would go on to win by that score.

The former Pirate went 1-4, batted second, and played center field. His fellow ex-Bucco teammate Corey Dickerson was the leadoff hitter and played left field. Matt Joyce got in the game, too, to make it an all former Pirate outfield.

Not exactly the “Dream Outfield” of Marte, Andrew McCutchen and Gregory Polanco. But then again, that one didn’t last very long in Pittsburgh either compared to what we expected.

JuJu just made the cut

ESPN made a list predicting the top 100 players for the upcoming 2020 season.

Linebacker T.J. Watt, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and defensive lineman Cameron Heyward all made the list. I’ll let you click to find out where.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger got in at No. 78 after missing all of last season. And JuJu Smith-Schuster slides in at No. 100 despite a rotten 2019.

Via ESPN.com’s Brooke Pryor, “It’s a contract season, and Roethlisberger is back. Smith-Schuster was a game-changing wide receiver as Antonio Brown’s No. 2. This season, he has a stronger supporting cast around him that should make life a little easier as the top target.”

I’m not so sure about the “top target” part. Let’s just say I wouldn’t be stunned if Diontae Johnson is on this list in 2021 and Smith-Schuster is not.

Running back rumblings

As NFL training camps draw to a close, Tuesday was a busy news day for running backs.

Most germane to the Steelers is that the AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals locked up Joe Mixon for the foreseeable future.

ProFootballTalk.com reports that is “a four-year extension. The deal has a base value of $48 million, which equates to a new-money average of $12 million.”

As for Leonard Fournette, the former Jacksonville Jaguar went unclaimed on waivers. ESPN is reporting that he filed a grievance in an attempt to “recoup the $4.167 million in base salary that the team voided.”

Meanwhile, there’s a lot of confusion about Alvin Kamara. An NFL Network report Monday stated he didn’t show up for practice with the New Orleans Saints. Ian Rapoport indicated Kamara had missed the previous three days of practice because of a contract dispute.

Rapoport followed that up with this tweet Tuesday.

Spoke to #Saints RB Alvin Kamara and his agent and neither has asked for or demanded a trade. As of today, they thought they were actively negotiating and making progress on an extension. Kamara has never threatened to hold out and has been in the building every day.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 1, 2020

Colleague Tom Pelissero reported on Tuesday night that Kamara will be back at practice Wednesday and that his absence was health related.

Just said on @NFLTotalAccess: #Saints RB Alvin Kamara intends to show up tomorrow and practice after missing several days following an epidural shot in his back last Thursday. The sides weren't that far apart on an extension before things went sideways. @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/mdBqpoNGXG

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 1, 2020

Meanwhile, NFL reporter Josina Anderson says the Saints would be “open to trading” Kamara if they can’t sign him. The Athletic’s Jeff Duncan tweeted that a first-round draft choice would be needed in return for Kamara if they can’t get him signed to a long-term deal.

Got all that? Good. Now explain it back to me. Because I’m confused.