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Rutherford: ‘Good chance’ Pens are done dealing after Winnik trade

Jim Rutherford

Jim Rutherford

AP

Wednesday’s acquisition of Daniel Winnik sounds like it’ll cap off a two-month flurry of transactions from Penguins GM Jim Rutherford.

“There’s a good chance that we’re done,” Rutherford said, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We’ll keep our ear to the ground. If something comes along we think we can improve our team a little bit, we’ll take a look at it.

"[But] there’s nothing we’re looking at right now.”

Rutherford’s action got underway in early January, first acquiring David Perron from Edmonton; then, at the end of January, he flipped Marcel Goc to St. Louis in exchange for Maxim Lapierre. Today, he paid a fairly significant price to acquire Winnik -- Zach Sill, a second-round draft pick in 2016 and a fourth-round draft pick in 2015 -- but feels he accomplished his goal of building a better bottom-six forward group than the Penguins have had in previous campaigns.

“I feel the team we have now has as good a chance (to win the Stanley Cup) as any other team,” Rutherford explained.

With this move, Pittsburgh’s bottom-six forward group will likely be comprised of Winnik, Lapierre, Brandon Sutter, Nick Spaling, Steve Downie and Beau Bennett. (Veteran Craig Adams can serve in a depth role.) It’s a good group that’s got a decent amount of postseason experience; Lapierre has played 75 playoff games and Winnik has been to the postseason in each of the last three years.