Jim Rutherford wants to add another forward to the Penguins

Jim Rutherford is a popular fellow these days.

Not counting annoying reporters, his phone rang, by his count, 30 times “at a minimum” Friday as he had discussions with fellow general managers and team staffers.

That number will probably go up this weekend as well as Monday before 3 p.m., when the NHL’s trade deadline expires.

After that?

“After Monday, it’s not boring,” the Pittsburgh Penguins general manager told the Tribune-Review by phone Friday evening. “It obviously changes. It goes from me having a lot of communication within the organization and around the league to very little. It will just be back to what’s going on in the games, what’s going in Wilkes-Barre, preparing for the draft and all those things. But today leading up to three o’clock Monday, it gets a lot more intense and there’s certainly a lot more communication around the league.”

Having already claimed one of the jewels of the trade market in forward Jason Zucker via a Feb. 10 transaction, Rutherford doesn’t appear to be in the market for anyone who could make or break the team, especially because there seemingly is no one fitting that description available at this point.

Instead, he’s looking for depth. His focus is primarily on the forward ranks, but he is in something of a wait-and-see approach with his defensive corps.

Rutherford indicated he would get an update on the status of injured defensemen Brian Dumoulin and John Marino on Saturday and would decide if he needs to pursue a blue-liner. The fact the pair traveled with the team for Sunday’s game against the Washington Capitals suggests good news on that front.

Dumoulin has been rehabilitating lacerated tendons in his left ankle from an injury he suffered Nov. 30 and just recently began skating. Marino, a rookie, is convalescing after undergoing surgery to repair broken bones on the left side of his face as a result of being struck by a puck Feb. 6.

An additional forward appears to be what Rutherford likely will be most active in pursuing before the deadline.

Will it be a center or a wing?

“We’re open,” Rutherford said. “Always, when you look at a forward, a two-positional player would be ideal. But that doesn’t always come along like a (Jared) McCann or (Nick) Bjugstad. Those guys can play both the wing and the center. But I would think it would probably be a winger.”

Rutherford addressed a handful of other subjects:

• He does not want to part ways with forward prospects Samuel Poulin or Nathan Legare. Poulin, 18, was the team’s first-round pick in 2019 and has been enjoying an outstanding season with the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Poulin has 75 points (32 goals, 43 assists) in 43 games.

Legare, 19, was the team’s third-round pick in 2019. In 52 games with Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the QMJHL, he has 60 points (30 goals, 30 assists), including a hat trick in Saturday’s game.

“The projections on them are really good,” Rutherford said. “I think Poulin will take a good run at making the team next year. Both of them are developed physically to be close to playing in the NHL. Poulin is having an exceptional year. Legare is having a good year. He can score. When we see those two guys, we’re pretty confident they’ll play in Pittsburgh. And the fact that we don’t have a big pool of prospects, we want to stay away from (potentially trading) them.”

• Rutherford has been pleased with Zucker thus far. Primarily skating on a line with Sidney Crosby, Zucker has appeared in six games and has four points (three goals, one assist) since joining the Penguins.

“He’s been good,” Rutherford said. “You can see whether it’s practice or the game, he’s adjusting to the pace we play at. He’s doing what we expect him to do and what we expect him to continue to do.”

• The Penguins’ ugly 4-0 road loss his team suffered against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday will not impact what direction Rutherford takes going into the deadline.

• Following that game, coach Mike Sullivan had harsh words for his team’s entire defensive game in recent weeks and even questioned his players’ commitment to that aspect of their play.

“We have to go back to work,” Sullivan said. “The first thing we have to do is recognize it. Then you’ve got to pay attention to details.”

The general manager wasn’t as harsh as the coach, but Rutherford agreed with the sentiment.

“If I look at it over the whole year and compare it to a year ago, it’s been really, really good,” Rutherford said. “But it’s like anything, when you play a long season, you’re going to be better at some points of the season than others. We were really good in the first half defensively, as a team, as a full five-man unit, or a six-man unit if you want to count the goalie. I think it’s fair to say we’ve given up more quality chances over the last couple of weeks than we did earlier in the year.”

• Before Thursday’s game, Rutherford did swing a minor trade with the Montreal Canadiens, acquiring AHL forwards Riley Barber and Phil Varone in exchange for Joseph Blandisi and Jake Lucchini.

Rutherford suggested the trade could benefit his NHL and AHL rosters.

“I think it’s both,” he said. “It gives us a couple of players that we feel make us stronger from a depth point of view in the organization.”

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