Craig Patrick has often shared his recollection of how, in trading Mark Recchi in the winter of 1992, he knew he was sending a future Hall of Famer to Philadelphia and refused to be bothered by that because he knew his defending Stanley Cup champions were sagging, he knew his roster would benefit from selling a surplus to address a shortcoming, and he had confidence the Penguins could still -- with a push -- roll through another playoff run.
Which, of course, they did, with the ultimate result.
My friends, Jim Rutherford needs to be the Patrick of 1992 pretty much as soon as possible.
Because it's getting cold outside, and every passing flat-line performance -- notably the 4-0 thorough waste of time with the Ducks on this Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena -- painfully illustrates that this roster is well past worrying about its next third-line center.
It's going to take more. Much more.
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