The questions changed a while ago.
They went from whether the Penguins will trade Matt Murray or Tristan Jarry before next season -- they will -- to which one of those two will go. When the deal will happen. And where that goalie will end up.
"We know that we're moving one of the goalies, and there's interest in them," Jim Rutherford said. "That's about where we're at."
Which leads to what probably is the most important question of all for the Penguins: What they can reasonably expect to get back?
That's not clear, because while the market for goaltenders has begun to develop, it still seems to be far from settled.
"I'm starting to get a feel (for the market)," Rutherford said. "It's moving along now. We'll just have to wait and see what the return is."
What the Penguins receive likely will be influenced by which goalie gets moved; the conventional wisdom is that Murray is the logical candidate to go, and a case could be made that both he and the team would benefit from him getting a fresh start elsewhere.
It's conceivable, though, that Jarry would generate more interest -- and, it follows, better offers -- so it's possible to envision a scenario under which he would be the one to move on
As with most trades, supply-and-demand figures to have a major impact on what the Penguins receive for the goalie they deal, and there are some variables at play that don't work in their favor.
In particular, a bounty of unrestricted free agents are scheduled to be available during the offseason, including quite a few -- such as Jacob Markstrom, Robin Lehner, Braden Holtby, Corey Crawford and Craig Anderson -- who are (or were) their team's No. 1 goalie in 2019-20.
That would seem to undercut at least some of Rutherford's leverage, simply because some clubs might decide they'd rather add a guy who would cost them nothing more than the value of a contract, as opposed to surrendering one or more assets to acquire one.
Rutherford, though, pointed out that a team that is looking for more than a short-term fix at the position, perhaps because it does not have a promising goalie prospect in its system, might not care to pick up a veteran whose career might be winding down.
"(Murray and Jarry) are in their mid-20s, compared to the unrestricted guys (who are older)," he said. "If you're building your team and you have a young team, one of our guys is a pretty good fit, over the unrestricted guys."
Of course, Rutherford has to make sure the Penguins own the rights to those two, both of whom are restricted agents, before trading them.
That will necessitate extending qualifying offers to both by Oct. 12 if no deal has been made by then; Murray's old contract carried a salary-cap hit of $3.75 million, while Jarry's was worth $675,000 per season.
Under terms of the league's collective bargaining agreement, Jarry must be offered at least a five percent raise on his 2019-20 base salary of $700,000 and Murray's offer must at least match his base salary of $3.75 million from the past season.
Although neither player likely would accept a minimum qualifying offer, it's possible -- though highly unlikely -- that both would re-sign here before any trade is made.
"We may have to qualify both," Rutherford said. "I don't know if we'd get both signed."
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