Less than 24 hours after the Penguins were eliminated in round 1, Team CEO David Morehouse was quick today to get the message out there that head coach Mike Johnston and GM Jim Rutherford will both be back next season.
Morehouse also told the Post-Gazette and Tribune-Review that the team won’t consider trading Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin and that ownership believes in the core moving forward.
“We’re not looking at major changes,” Morehouse said via the Trib. “Jim and ownership believe the core players we have are the core players to build around. That’s what we’re going to try to do.”
In what will be the message coming out of the organization, Morehouse, as expected, cited injuries as the main reason the Penguins failed to get out of the first round.
The Penguins exit meetings are Sunday morning with final player availability and of Johnston and Rutherford, Johnston is only scheduled to speak for now. Except for last season where neither held a final media availability because they were in the process of being fired, in the past Ray Shero would speak after Dan Bylsma for his end of the season press conference or both would hold press conferences together.