Rumor: Penguins not confident in one of their core players, trade on the horizon.

Penguins may have lost faith in one of their core.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Rumor: Penguins not confident in one of their core players, trade on the horizon.
Chris Szagola/CSM/Zuma

A series of unfortunate circumstances may prompt yet another early season trade from Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford.

The Penguins have gotten off to a relatively slow start to the season, at least by the lofty standards of that organization, winning just 3 of their first 6 games, although they have picked up points in 5 of those 6. The Penguins have also dealt with additional issues however including a 6 game goaless drought from captain Sidney Crosby and a major injury to talented puck moving defenseman Justin Schultz.

Schultz was injured on October 13th during a match up against the Montreal Canadiens after a hit from Habs veteran Tomas Plekanec's resulted in an awkward, off balance, fall from Schultz. That fall caused a fracture in Schultz's lower left leg and it was severe enough that Schultz had to undergo a surgical procedure to repair the damage. Schultz will now be out for several months and not only has that left a significant hole in the Penguins line up in terms of defense, but a key offensive weapon as well. 

Since joining the Penguins from the 28 year old blue liner's offensive skills have really proved to be invaluable for the Penguins and it seems highly unlikely that the Penguins will be able to replace that production internally. That injury combined with the lackluster performance of another Penguins' defenseman has now led to talk that the Penguins may in fact be seriously looking at a trade.

Earlier this week Sportsnet's insider Elliotte Friedman commented on the current situation in Pittsburgh, specifically as it pertains to their defense, and his words made it sound like he believes Rutherford may already be looking to make moves.

From Friedman:

 Justin Schultz is expected to return this season, but remember that Penguins GM Jim Rutherford likes to make his moves early. Not sure how confident they are in Olli Maatta, so he’s probably in the defenceman market anyway.

Maatta entered the National Hockey League with considerable hype behind him which is understandable given the fact that the Penguins selected him in the first round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft but after a promising start he has been a liabilities at times for the Penguins over the past two seasons. In 5 games to start the 2018 - 2019 NHL regular season Maattaa has recorded no points and boasts a plus minus rating of -2 and based on Friedman's comments the Penguins may have some doubts about his ability to consistently perform for them. 

No word for Friedman on who the Penguins and Rutherford may be looking at, or whether or not Maatta himself may be a potential trading chip in any deal Rutherford is currently mulling over.

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