The Penguins still haven't re-signed Marcus Pettersson, their lone restricted free agent still on the market.
His agent, Peter Wallen, said via email today that there has been no negotiations about a contract for Pettersson during the past week.
Perhaps more important, though, Wallen reiterated that he believes a deal will be struck in time for Pettersson to not only be on hand for the beginning of training camp Sept. 13, but for him to secure the visa he will need to play in North America and to travel here from Sweden long enough before the start of drills to get acclimated to being in this time zone.
"We have it under control and Marcus will be back to Pitts(burgh) in good time to prepare for the camp," Wallen wrote.
Jim Rutherford has made no secret of his desire to work out a contract for Pettersson, but has said repeatedly that the Penguins do not have the kind of salary-cap space that would be needed for the kind of deal in which both sides are interested.
CapFriendly.com lists the Penguins with a 23-man roster and a cap hit that is $157,500 above the league-wide ceiling of $81.5 million for the coming season.
Rutherford suggested last week that Penguins officials have considered some personnel moves that could be made, if necessary, to accommodate a new contract for Pettersson.
"We're on the same page with them," Rutherford said. "Both sides totally understand the situation. There's a couple of options that could happen here with us. We're jut dragging it out a little bit, but we're on the same page."
Indeed, the Penguins and Wallen seem to be so much in synch that Pettersson's camp apparently hasn't even entertained the possibility of him signing with a team in Europe, let alone tried to use such a threat as leverage in negotiations with the Penguins.
"He is going to play for (the) Penguins next season, no matter what," Wallen wrote. "He wants to play for (the) Penguins and in (the) NHL. We are 100 percent sure that a contract will be signed in time for Marcus to compete for a spot (on) the season-opening roster."
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