Jim Rutherford knew many months ago that he would be facing some difficult personnel decisions after the 2019-20 season. That he would have more free-agents-to-be that he would like to keep than he would have the salary-cap space to accommodate.
Just like pretty much every other offseason since he became general manager of the Penguins in 2014.
"We always have to let guys go," he told a conference call Saturday.
This, however, is the first time in modern NHL history that a pandemic not only has paused a season, but has forced the salary-cap ceiling for the next season to be set a few million dollars lower than expected.