As the March 1 NHL trade deadline has drawn closer, Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford has gotten more talkative about the state of his goaltending conundrum.

Just last week, Rutherford admitted that splitting time between Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray in goal has been “difficult” on both players, who are each hungry to play.

On Thursday, Rutherford went a step further, telling the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he’d be willing to trade Fleury if the 32-year-old veteran asked for one. Emphasis is ours:

The one thing I'll have to watch for and keep the lines of communication open with the player is, is he OK with the situation that he's in?” Rutherford said. “Going back to last year and to this point in time, he has handled it like a true pro. No issues at all. It may play out that we may be able to go right through having two top goalies on our team. We just have to keep an eye on what direction Marc wants to go here in the next few weeks.”

As the Trib story notes, Rutherford knows all too well the value of goalie depth in the playoffs considering the Penguins won the cup with three quality netminders (Fleury, Murray, and Jeff Zatkoff) on their roster. The window is still wide open in Pittsburgh, and the team is still (arguably) the best in the NHL, so it’s likely Rutherford won’t trade Fleury unless he’s specifically asked to.

But if Fleury does want to move on, it’s also likely Rutherford will grant his wishes; it’s clear the respect between Fleury and the organization runs both ways deeply after so many years together. The trick will be finding a trade partner willing to take on Fleury’s contract, which pays him $5.75 million annually through the 2018-19 season.