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Brandon Sutter

Penguins bolster middle-six forwards, but questions still remain on defense

Kevin Allen
USA TODAY Sports

When Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford makes a trade, it’s always appropriate to ask, “What’s next?” because he is never done dealing.

Winger Nick Bonino had 15 goals and 24 assists last season with the Vancouver Canucks.

Given his long history of aggressive managing, Rutherford’s Tuesday boldness that added forwards Nick Bonino and Eric Fehr should be viewed as another step, and not the final piece, in the Penguins’ renovation project.

“I’m comfortable with (our defense) going into the season,” Rutherford said. “But it is certainly the area we will watch the closest.”

Rutherford has significantly upgraded the offense this summer. Early on, he acquired 30-goal scorer Phil Kessel and signed intriguing Russian scorer Sergei Plotnikov. On Tuesday, Rutherford signed unrestricted free agent Fehr to a three-year, $6 million deal, plus dealt Brandon Sutter to the Vancouver Canucks for Bonino, a second-round pick and Adam Clendening. The Penguins gave up a third-round pick in the deal.

What Rutherford hasn’t done is making any moves to help a defense that lost Paul Martin and Christian Ehrhoff to free agency.

“Hopefully the younger guys can fall into place and do a consistent job,” Rutherford said. “If not, part of having more depth up front, is that it can help us in the long run because if we have to go get a defenseman we have those extra pieces. I’m fully aware that at some point in time we may have to address that position.”

The key on defense is whether offensive-minded Derrick Pouliot is ready to step in and be a viable second-pairing defenseman. The Penguins also believe their defense will be better this season if Kris Letang and Olli Maatta can stay healthy. Letang missed 13 games last season; Maatta only played 20.

The Penguins also liked Ian Cole’s play after he came over from St. Louis.

Ben Lovejoy, Tim Erixon, Brian Domoulin and Clendening are among those competing for spots on the Pittsburgh  blue line.

One reason why Rutherford has done so much up front is that he had better opportunities for change at that position.

Kessel is one best scorers in the NHL. No one was offering the Penguins a defenseman that could help the Penguins as much as Kessel can impact the offense.

Tuesday’s deal was simply an opportunity to land two potentially key forwards while only giving up only one. Bonino is a center, but could move to the wing on either Sidney Crosby’s or Evgeni Malkin’s line. He had 15 goals and 39 points last season. Fehr, 6-4, 215 pounds, can take Sutter’s job as No. 3 center.  He recorded 19 goals and 33 points last season.

“(Fehr) was a very good shut down guy in that third center position,” Rutherford said.

Sutter has a $3.3 million cap hit, and he would have been an unrestricted free agent next summer. The Penguins believed they wouldn’t be able to re-sign him. Bonino makes $1.9 million, and the savings on exchanging those two players gave the Penguins the cap space required to sign Fehr, who also has the potential to play wing in the top six if the Penguins want size there.

“Believe it or not, (Sutter) is one of my favorite guys and I’ve ended up trading him twice,” Rutherford said.

When Rutherford was with Carolina, he traded Sutter to Pittsburgh.

Bonino, 27, has better offensive instincts than Sutter, but Sutter is a better defensive center.  Sutter's advanced statistics showed him to be among the worst possession players on the Penguins, and he's never finished above 50% in his career. Bonino's possession numbers ranked sixth on the Canucks. Fehr rates well when assessing his puck possession.

Crosby presumably is penciled in to play with Kessel, and Malkin will play with Patric Hornqvist. That leaves Bonino, Pascal Dupuis, David Perron, Chris Kunitz and Plotnikov (36 points in 56 games in the Kontinental Hockey League) to compete for the other spots on those lines.

In an era when general managers say trades are difficult to make, Rutherford always finds a way to make deals. The Penguins don’t have any room under the cap. But no one would be shocked if Rutherford finds a way to deal for a defenseman before the season starts in October.

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