WASHINGTON -- "I feel the team we have now has as good a chance as any team in the NHL."
I double-checked the audio, and those were, to the syllable, Jim Rutherford's unfiltered, unflinching words outside the Penguins' locker room at Verizon Center early Wednesday evening.
In fairness, the wily, old GM had to be feeling good in the moment. He had every right. He'd just completed yet another terrific trade by acquiring gritty forward Daniel Winnik from the Maple Leafs for Zach Sill, two draft picks and cash, which even with the Canadian currency adjustment amounts to somewhere between little and nothing. That won't grab headlines or have the citizens flocking to Pittsburgh International flicking rose petals at Winnik's feet, but it was a smart, patient deal -- one that required a month of back-and-forth and at least one firm rejection from Toronto -- that did right by his team and did so responsibly.
Best of all, Rutherford clearly got his No. 1 target.
"This," he said, "was the one we wanted."
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