Rutherford: Penguins 'will be ready' if NHL resumes

Sure, Jim Rutherford doesn't know what the salary-cap ceiling for the 2020-21 season will be.

And he doesn't know exactly what it will cost to re-sign those free-agents-to-be on the Penguins' roster that he'd like to keep.

Or, perhaps, even the complete list of the guys he hopes to retain.

As a result, Rutherford can't be certain of what personnel moves he might have to make before next season to make sure his team is cap-compliant by then.

Nonetheless, he's spending a fair amount of time on the phone with other general managers these days.

More, he said, than he generally would in mid- to late April.

But that doesn't mean there's been much talk about potential trades.

Mostly, it's an indication of how, with the league shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, GMs have more free time than they are accustomed to at this time of year.

"I talk to different GMs periodically," Rutherford said Monday. "It might be a little bit more (than normal) because at this time of year, we're in the playoffs and I'm not talking to other GMs.

"Right now, I just talk to people to say 'Hello' and see if they're doing OK. It's really not about business. Maybe a little bit about what they hear and what they think is going to happen, but that's about it."

Of course, questions far outnumber answers at the moment. No one can say with absolute certainty whether the league will attempt to salvage any portion of the 2019-20 season, which has been on hold since March 12, and, if so, whether those plans would include trying to make up some of the regular-season games that have been postponed or whether the league would move directly into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

If the NHL would opt for the latter, one possibility would be to have playoff teams convene at one or more non-NHL venues. Whether the league would be inclined to have all clubs convene at a single site or spread them over several isn't clear.

The latter notion -- dividing games between geographically different locales -- might have appeal because it would lessen the travel burden on some teams, as well as diffusing the demand for things like hotel rooms.

Rutherford, though, said it's too early to know what set-up might be most practical.

"There are so many variables," he said. "The key to it all is the safety. From the owners to the players to everybody involved, (they) would like to see games played this year and finish this season, and everybody is working hard at it. But they're going to have to get over a lot of hurdles with testing and safety and how all of that works."

Regardless of when hockey returns -- and the details of its comeback -- Rutherford seems confident that any damage done to the business during this unscheduled suspension of operations will not last for an extended period, even as he acknowledges that the jolt of the pandemic will continue to be felt across society.

"It's going to have a financial impact on all industries," he said. "It's going to take some time, from a financial point of view, for businesses to get back to a comfort level. But as for our business and interest in our game, I don't have any issues with that. I think people are going to be anxious to get back to seeing games.

"As we move along here, we're going to have better ways of controlling this, whether it just be doing the right things -- some of the things we're doing now, (such as) social-distancing -- and also from a medical point of view, therapeutic drugs and a vaccine and things like that. Certainly, the people I talk to are anxious to get back to seeing sports. All the sports. And we have such a loyal following with the Penguins, so I don't have any concerns about that."

He repeatedly stressed his belief that trying to return to normalcy too quickly could be counter-productive, that everyone would be hurt if efforts to control the disease have to return to their earliest level.

Nonetheless, he added that if -- or when -- hockey gets the all-clear to get back in session, the Penguins will be as ready as possible for its return.

"We're getting prepared for it," Rutherford said. "The coaching staff talks a few times a week (about) what they'd do. The coaches are having (video) meetings with players once a week and keeping them engaged.

"We've got our trainers on top of the players working out, so we're preparing as if we're going to play. And we'll be ready to go if, in fact, they tell us it's a go."