Pens exploring trade market while awaiting Cullen's decision to return

There may be no fountain of youth, but lifting the Stanley Cup might have the same affect.

While 37-year-old Mike Fisher announced his retirement on Thursday, 40-year-old free-agent Matt Cullen continues to mull over the decision to return for a 20th NHL season, following back-to-back Stanley Cup victories.

Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said he hasn't heard a firm answer from Cullen regarding the forward's future, according to Jason MacKey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. But he says the team has been monitoring the trade market should the need for a new third-line center arise.

According to Cap Friendly, the Penguins have a little over $3 million in cap space heading into the 2017-18 season, but it's unlikely to limit anything the Penguins deem they need to do.

"Ultimately it will depend who it is," said Rutherford. "We may have to move some things around. We may not. It's no different than if any other deal came along. You have to move things around. Right now, I don't think so."

Carter Rowney is the Penguins' lone bottom-six center currently under contract, after Nick Bonino was signed by the Nashville Predators earlier in the summer as a potential replacement for Fisher.

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