Penguins GM Jim Rutherford was open to almost anything regarding his roster last summer but it was not Evgeni Malkin or Kris Letang that rival GM’s inquired about the most.

That honor went to [hide] Nick Bjugstad.

Pittsburgh was asked about Bjugstad all off-season as multiple trade scenario’s came Pittsburgh’s way.

The most aggressive team for Bjugstad in the off-season was tonight’s opponent, the Montreal Canadiens, who made a number of attempts to acquire Bjugstad, including a trade scenario Pittsburgh was approached about in mid-July that would have sent Bjugstad and Jack Johnson to Montreal.

Yet, Jim Rutherford never took the inquiries and offers made for Bjugstad too seriously, sources say.

Rutherford informed other executives at the time that he viewed Bjugstad as part of his core moving forward, but for a General Manager who sours on players quickly, where Bjugstad’s standing in the organization is now compared to the summer remains to be seen. With a $4 million cap hit and younger players emerging and Bjugstad being a player the organization is torn on whether he’s better suited for center or wing, team’s with possible interest anticipate a discussion for the Penguins’ brass will likely be had prior to the deadline if it’s time to circle back to the team’s that had great interest over the summer.

Montreal, now Minnesota under Bill Guerin just to name a few that will be keeping a tab on Pittsburgh’s intentions for Bjugstad.

Another burning question, though, is once healthy, will Bjugstad still hold the same type of value he had around the league. Teams are starting to wonder about his back.

Sidelined for up to eight weeks with a core muscle injury, word has gotten around to other clubs that Bjugstad’s injury is somewhat related to an old disc issue. The 27 year old had herniated disc surgery four years ago. Will be something to watch.

— One disappointment in the Penguins organization was not completing a trade for Max Domi at the 2018 trade deadline when he was a member of the Arizona Coyotes. Pittsburgh was optimistic of acquiring Domi and felt the two sides were close at the time but Pittsburgh and Arizona never got to the finish line. Even after the 18 deadline, there was a feeling among executives that a deal would come together that summer between the two sides as Mario Lemieux who stays out of most personnel decisions, even had an interest in trying to get Domi to Pittsburgh.

Domi had a 70+ season with the Canadiens in 18-19.

— Not enough gets talked about in how big a blunder it was for the Florida Panthers to move Jared McCann, a young cost controlled forward, as part of the Blugstad trade. The McCann acquisition was great scouting work by the Penguins as they pushed for McCann to be included and Dale Taillon was pretty much like ‘whatever’ one source joked. John Marino was even better scouting work by the Pittsburgh as the Oilers organization certainly didn’t see this coming from him.

— Tristan Jarry is expected to start in goal tonight as the opportunity is there for him to get a run of games if his high level of play continues. [/hide]

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