ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Penguins plan to send a full complement of scouts, coaches and front-office personnel to the NHL Draft in June.
Makes perfect sense. After all, who would would turn down the chance to spend a summer weekend in Montreal?
Whether those staffers will have enough work to keep them busy is a whole other issue, though.
The Penguins have traded away their first-, second- and seventh-round choices in the draft, which means that, barring a deal after the season to add a selection or two, they will have only four.
There's nothing new about that -- Jim Rutherford's philosophy of trying to contend for as many Stanley Cups as possible while the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin window is open has been in place from the day he was hired to replace Ray Shero in 2014 -- but it does explain why the Penguins put such an emphasis on pursuing undrafted college players who showed NHL potential during their time in school.
"This is an important area for us, because we trade a lot of draft picks in a win-now situation, Rutherford said. "Anytime we can pick up college free agents -- or any free agents, European or junior free agents -- that's a bonus for us. That offsets draft picks that we move out."
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