As his news conference discussing the signing of Jack Johnson and Matt Cullen was wrapping up Sunday afternoon, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford addressed the assembled media, barely holding back a grin.

“Talk to you guys in camp,” he said, stepping away from the podium.

Rutherford's tongue was in his cheek because he knows full well there's at least an even-money chance he'll be addressing reporters again before the summer is out.

Rutherford likes the balance the addition of Johnson and Cullen brings to his lineup, but the GM has a win-now mandate he takes very seriously. Whether a deal comes together, it's safe to say he'll be exploring his trade options throughout the rest of the offseason.

“I'm happy going into opening night with what we have, but I'm not going to just close the door on the trade market,” Rutherford said. “It's the same as always. If something comes along that makes sense for our team for whatever reason, we'll talk about it.”

Rutherford said last week he never came close to completing a trade at the NHL Draft. The wait for free agents Ilya Kovalchuk and John Tavares was slowing trade talks to a crawl leaguewide.

Now that Kovalchuk, Tavares and their ilk are spoken for, Rutherford expects the trade market to loosen up substantially.

San Jose, Boston, Dallas, Tampa Bay and the Islanders, for instance, have to move on to Plan B without Tavares. Carolina, Ottawa and Montreal are, to different degrees, selling off parts. Minnesota's new general manager would like to make a splash.

Once they get restricted free agent Jamie Oleksiak under contract, the Penguins probably will have a little less than $2 million in cap space remaining. They have precious few prospects or young players who might make for enticing trade bait.

But they have a GM who kicks more tires than the most particular used-car customer.

“I do think that over the next two to four weeks, you'll see more trades because free agency goes very fast,” Rutherford said. All the top players are gone now. Some teams missed out, and I would suspect they're going to try to fill those holes in different ways.”

Jonathan Bombulie is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jbombulie@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BombulieTrib.

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