The Pittsburgh Penguins, in general manager Jim Rutherford's inaugural season at the helm of the franchise, have seen gut-wrenching injury issues involving Olli Matta and Pascal Dupuis, the separation of the formerly inseparable Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz and an almost overwhelming amount of success.
His tenure is still young and, other than the injuries to Matta and Dupuis, the bullets have yet to fly hard and/or fast. But Rutherford, though he sports the most offensively able team in the league (h/t to ESPN) is not satisfied with the product he's currently putting out on the ice.
"We'll still make some changes with the team," he said, according to Joe Starkey of the Pittsburgh Star-Tribune. "We need to get more balance in our forward lines. And I say that with all due respect to the players we have. The guys have worked hard. At the same time, there's a lot of good teams in this league, and I recognize that we'll have to get more depth up front."
The Penguins have been rumored for quite some time to want to add a top-6 winger with many a name being floated as a possibility for addition. Add in the injuries to Dupuis and youngster Beau Bennett and that desire may have increased significantly in recent days.
Still, Rutherford says that his job is only to bring in players - he does not interfere with the decisions of coach Mike Johnston on who to play when and where - even when it comes to the long-time, highly effective pairing of Crosby and Kunitz.
"We have a good line of communication, but once (Johnston) gets the players, he can do what he wants with them," Rutherford said. "He makes that decision. I think it's a good decision. I think it's good to give those guys a little bit of a break. They've been together a long time."
Rutherford, though his team currently shares the top spot in the Metropolitan Division, is not counting his chickens yet. He knows that there is plenty of work still to be done in an 82-game season that just reached its quarter point.
"My finish line is June," Rutherford said.
