The Pittsburgh Penguins officially released Sergei Gonchar from his professional tryout contract today and Penguins GM Jim Rutherford hopes Gonchar accepts an off-ice role in the organization.

“If he’s not going to try and play somewhere else, we would really like to keep him in the organization,” Rutherford told Jason Mackey of the Tribune-Review. “”We feel that he would be a big asset to some of the things we’re doing.”