Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Rutherford says re-signing Niskanen is ‘not going to be easy’

Jim Rutherford, David Morehouse

Jim Rutherford, left, takes questions as Penguins President David Morehouse listens after Rutherford was introduced as the new general manager for the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL hockey team at a news conference on Friday, June 6, 2014, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

AP

Not even a week into his tenure as Penguins general manager, Jim Rutherford was in New York today for a meeting with his league counterparts prior to Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. Not surprisingly, there were a few GMs who had some trade “ideas” for him.

“Some people came after me today and there’s ideas out there,” said Rutherford, per Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston. “I haven’t been throwing any ideas out, but I’ll listen. Obviously there’s going to be some new players there because just the position we’re in with the cap.”

One of Pittsburgh’s many unrestricted free agents is defenseman Matt Niskanen. Rutherford would like to re-sign the 27-year-old who finished the season with 46 points. Then again, so would a lot of teams.

“He had a good year and I’m trying to figure that out,” said Rutherford. “That’s not going to be easy, but certainly with the year he had we’d like to take a look at it.”

Related: I like Kris Letang,’ says Rutherford