from Tim Benz of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

Let’s not put Jim Rutherford on an aircraft carrier with the “Mission Accomplished” sign behind his head just yet.

But it appears the Penguins general manager has taken many of the steps he wanted to take this offseason.

During his season-ending press conference in April, Rutherford said he wanted to make the team hungrier, tougher to play against and one that was easier for Mike Sullivan to coach.

Those were goals Rutherford stated directly. Other goals he didn’t state as directly:

• Get faster

• Trade Phil Kessel

Rutherford is following that plan. Let’s see if he got the right guys to do it.

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