Following the Pittsburgh Penguins' Stanley Cup victory, general manager Jim Rutherford is already back to work, including dealing with his team's pending restricted free agents.
The Penguins will make a qualifying offer to forward Beau Bennett, but will not give one to defenseman Justin Schultz, Rutherford told reporters Thursday, according to DKPittsburghSports.com's Josh Yohe.
Bennett, 24, was limited to just 33 games this season due to injury, recording six goals and six assists. He appeared in just one playoff game, posting a minus-2 rating in 11 minutes of ice time during his team's Game 5 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final.
He earned $900,000 last season.
Schultz agreed to a one-year, $3.9-million deal with the Edmonton Oilers last offseason before being moved to the Penguins at the trade deadline. Although he recorded a career-low 18 points this season, Rutherford would like to bring the 25-year-old back.
Rutherford says he'd like to re-sign D Justin Schultz, but doesn't seem overly optimistic
— Dave Molinari (@MolinariPG) June 16, 2016
