frm Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford didn't say he'll never trade Phil Kessel, but he painted the high-scoring winger as an important part of his team's roster during a radio interview Thursday morning.

The idea of trading Kessel had been popular talk-show fodder in recent days.

“Phil Kessel's an important part of the Penguins,” Rutherford said in an interview on 93.7 The Fan. “He gets a lot of points. He scores big goals. He sets up big goals. The more impact players that you have, like we have, the better chance you have of winning.

“It may not be on a regular basis, but it may come at a certain time in a series or whatnot, just like it did against Ottawa. Kessel came up with the big goal in that 1-0 game (in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals).

“He's an important part. I don't want to sit here and say that a certain player's not going to get traded at some point in his career. I mean, Phil already did. But that's not something that I foresee happening right now.”

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