The Rutherford Fallout & Latest on the GM Search
Worst kept secret around the league right now:
Jim Rutherford will be laying the groundwork the next couple months to join a franchise as a President of Hockey Operations with former Penguins Assistant GM Jason Karmanos coming in as General Manager. Karmanos who was Rutherford’s top lieutenant the last couple seasons wasn’t just a puppet for Rutherford. He has been considered an up and coming name in the executive ranks and was a sleeper GM candidate in the Coyotes recent search and also spoke with the Devils for their opening last season.
— There is more and more noise from those close to Rutherford that sometime around late October/early November he started to believe a mutual parting AFTER the season was more likely than not, which is a shock to many as it was always assumed Rutherford would be allowed to stay on as long as he wanted due to the relationship he had with David Morehouse at a personal/professional level. But, cracks started to mount at the professional level between the two.
Sources say Issues/Disagreements just continued to fester and fester since the bubble until Rutherford for whatever reason reached a breaking point this week and just abruptly quit on the franchise. That continues to be the accurate picture of the situation, sources say.
— Underrated part of the breakup. Jim Rutherford willingly took a massive pay cut during the start of the pandemic as did other high paying members of the organization like Mike Sullivan. Multiple league sources say, though, when pay cuts to Rutherford’s staff (those under him) were still on-going several months after the start of the pandemic when the Penguins were going through preparations [hide] for the 2021 season in the fall, it started [hide] to become a real issue to Rutherford personally, sources say. Not the whole story but sources say this is JTo read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
— Two-Way contracts are normally negotiated by the assistant General Manager but in the case of Yannick Weber who is likely to debut tonight vs the New York Rangers, it was Jim Rutherford who did all the leg work in signing Weber.
That’s how inexperienced the situation is now and was under Rutherford prior to abrupt exit. All parties involved deserve criticism for that. The fact the staff under Rutherford was so unqualified in NHL level dealings and other pro level aspects even before Rutherford quit was extremely risky in itself when you had a General Manager Rutherford’s age and being a high risk person in a global pandemic.
This is an extremely important hire for the Penguins and all bets equal, if they have to wait until after the season to get the guy they really want, that’s To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Others around the league, though, say Pittsburgh’s management hierarchy is so unqualified right now for this situation that they feel Pittsburgh To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
— One of the myth’s going around is that Jim Rutherford was not permitted to trade Kris Letang and that the next GM will have a mandate from ownership that Letang will be off limits. Completely bogus, multiple league sources say, and the next General Manager will not have any such orders. Rutherford was allowed to shop Letang and did so pretty hard leading into the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
— When combining in-person/phone interviews, Pittsburgh conducted 33 interviews during the 2014 GM Search. Will not be that large this time around. The Penguins plan to speak to around To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
At the end of the day, the 2014 search came down to who the Penguins were comfortable with as a person. It will be the same again. That’s why Pat Brisson was an initial top target, then Pierre McGuire was offered the job after three in-person interviews over a three week period. Jim Rutherford brought in the worst looking resume the Penguins had seen on paper of all the candidates. He knocked his interview out of the park. He was just real, one source said. During the 14 search the Penguins had a ton of recommendations from NHL people they consulted with that they have to hire [hide] Paul Fenton in that he was going to be the next great GM. Pittsburgh squashed him from the list immediately after an in-person interview when he came off as an arrogant jerk.
Don’t lose your mind when you hear a couple of the names they will be interviewing this coming week, case in point Peter Chiarelli who has secured an in-person interview with the team. This ownership group hasn’t missed a GM
hire yet. [/hide]
—
1993: Republican HW Bush leaves office with US in mini recession
2001: Democrat Clinton leaves office with thriving US economy
2009: Republican W Bush leaves office as America enters great recession. (Pens are energized by Obama’s inauguration and win first Cup in nearly 2 decades.)
2017: Democrat Obama leaves office with US economy thriving. (Pens ride momentum to win the Cup.)
2021: Disgraced Republican, one-term, twice impeached Trump leaves economy in the GD gutter. (Pens are mediocre at best)
Anyone notice a trend?
Do you criticize anything Biden does or do you agree with everything?
I like how he blames Trump for the economy, not the pandemic. It’s also funny considering Democrats are the party locking everything down, bringing the economy down.
President Obama’s admin left pandemic guidelines and prevention team but he scrapped all of that. Probably should have kept that…
11 days in no major complaints. He wasnt my first or second choice but as we all know, it could be way worse!
why politics dpnt get it….
Biden was really going to have vaccines sent to Guantanamo bay prisoners before the citizens of his country. Lmao wow.
When will Obama doesn’t care plan be available again
Well, we’re talking about a guy who wasn’t for desegregating schools because as he put it, he didn’t want his kids going to a “racial jungle”. Nothing is off the table with him.
Pens win, Letang injuried, Montreal loses, Sam(e) is quiet. Sounds about right.
Just sucks meaning Letangs probably not of any trade value short term
Why is this team always so banged up ? Way more than other teams like 3, 4 5 guys at a time.. Do they not train right or is sullivan’s camps and practices suck? YEAR AFTER YEAR
Letang evaluated tonight
Matheson Out
Dumoulin out
Rikola out
Pettesson out
z a reese out
WTF
This has been going on long before Sully… It’s a mixture of bad luck, brittle players and possible poor conditioning. Besides, Letang was due for his annual injury. I am shocked it took this many games.
That’s true…
Typical Stan still has his agenda set on Letang but misses the Russians vacation every year.
Letang being evaluated for lower body injury… Sam(e) will have to grab his nuts and perform a physical.
PoJo with the game winner assist
Dude seems solid… I mean I don’t he’s like top 2 but as a 4/5 guy with a possible upside? Beauty! I’m a fan
Best case, he’s a hard 4 and with loving lol
Hard 4 is 2.5 more than Sam could offer.
I think he’s a lock as a 2nd pair dman.
I have been saying this for a while the Penguins have good young defenseman.
Pierre Oliver Joseph 21, John Marino 24, Marcus Pettersson 24, William Reilly 23 (former RPI captain has made it to the NHL taxi squad, Cam Lee 22 , Joshua Maniscalco 21/22 and had they pulled off that trade for young 22 year old Victor Mete of the Canadiens wow.
Wow, I think I understand why sam’s English is so bad lol. Was pretty ripped out here last night and basically ever post was a personal attack on English lol
PoJo is a beauty
Letang looks as lost as Biden
JFC we get it… we always have. You’re a fucken complete idiot rivalled by sam and maybe yoda. No one cares. You lost.. Biden won and you should probably just Jill yourself. Seriously… do it. If you can’t talk hockey, which historically you’ve always been way over your head because you’re a fucken retard, then kill yourself. I mean you know sam’s a fucken idiot, you agree with so much we says… that should bother you Most people you think you’re fighting with, don’t like Biden. They are just not so blind to fucken idolize a President. Especially a pathological… Read more »
Well said Zero…it’s a hockey site!!
Why don’t you just suck him off you nerd?
Biden is president, so obviously a fair number of people like a pathological liar. It’s also funny talking to the people that voted for him because when forced to back up their reasoning, they just take personal shots because they can’t. Biden: “I’m for big oil” Shuts down Keystone XL pipeline. Biden: “Trump causes all covid deaths. I’ll fix it.” Biden as soon as he’s in office: “People are going to die and there’s not much I can do.” Then you have the hypocrisy of him crying about racism when he’s been racist for almost fifty years. I’d be happy… Read more »
In short, a lot of Republicans don’t like Trump the person, myself included. That’s not what matters. The country was far better off a couple years into his presidency than before on most major levels. Then the pandemic hit and the left politicized it to the point where they were sacrificing the well being of the people in order to try and win an election. There are a lot of dumb people like Greeter11 in this country though that lap up the nonsense and vote accordingly. Does it matter that lockdowns aren’t helping suppress the spread of the virus? Nah.… Read more »
Tbj there is no point. Everything you just said was spot on but they don’t want to hear it. All they care about is ORaNge MaN bAd. Those same shitt bags would’ve voted for Charles Manson if he was running as a democrat. It’s just insane the amount of hypocrisy and double standards.
We’ve talked about this ad nauseam… literally everyone of trumps claimed wins came off of well documented momentum that is incredibly evident prior to him taking office.
Dudes biggest skill was convincing people that reality wasn’t reality. Because of his presidency history is being rewritten… we distrust everything and conspiracy theories are commonplace. This is purely on how he operated.
Now that said, I’m done with this fucken conversation out here, say your piece I don’t care anymore. Sam and Rothey can suck each other off all they want and pretend like they have a fucken clue about anything. I’ve never had an issue with you… we are clearly polarized politically and this is why I’m sick and fucken tired of talking politics out here. I’m done, if we want to get back to hockey, cool… if not… then the page is better of finally dying because I don’t need to come here to continue to be blasted with political… Read more »
Another delusion of the left….giving credit to Obama for things the Trump administration accomplished. Try again.
Why are we crying about min wage increase while being dead silent on the fact that those who are really doing the damage are excused? Dem or Republicans it’s always been the same…
Lick the boots of the rich, take their money and make laws for their benefit. See them take in significant amounts of unnecessary hoarded wealth then bitch when we try to help those with low paying jobs finally start to catch up to decades of inflation.
I’ll explain to you why raising minimum wage is a terrible idea, which directly relates to HELPING THE RICH. 1. Minimum wage should be controlled at a local level. The cost of living is obviously much different in NYC than southwest rural PA. I agree with raising minimum wage, but it should be in accordance with the cost of living in each specific area. A high school kid flipping burgers shouldn’t be making $15/hour in an area where a decent 1br apartment can be easily had for $300-$400. 2. What you and the rest of the left don’t understand is… Read more »
Biden isn’t lost..you are with that stupid clown face picture…:)
Zucker looking a lot better..
Kap has a lot of his fathers game in him. I’m a fan
Kap, Guentzel, and Zucker key guys scorong tonight
Kapanen!!!!
Loving it… looking better than the 3rd liner we thought he was
Letang hurt… trade him right fucken now. Bad Pinch by Marino… trade Letang before Marino learns more from him
That was just awful!!! DeSmith had no chance.
If that was Malkin and Letang on that two on zero they would miss the net…
Nice….Letang makes more bad decisions pinching, coughing up the puck, or passing when he should shoot the damn puck for a veteran.. donn’t get it !
That was fuckin’ pathetic!!!
How does Drew O’connor look on the 4th line?
This team easily looks better without Letang, easily.
He is on his annual vacation.
We ere so close to moving him to…owners squashed it…
Letang hurt again…? missing on bench.
Judge orders Seattle to pay 82k to Black Lives Matter for legal fees
To their lawyers.
More money so they can go and burn down another city
Wow from GMJR to possible Chirelli
Man I’ve always said this organization was a circus now it’s more clear
Two people who shouldn’t get the job Hextall / Chirelli…
If they hire Chirelli this team would be fucked worse for a longer time… dudes awful
these lockdowns appear to be permanent. the NHL is not a made for TV league. i’m saying 50/50 shot it folds in the next 1 to 2 years.
Hahaha Chiarelli. How is that guy on ANYONES list for GM. For those who don’t know that was Edmonton’s old GM and he got canned. Hall for Adam Larrson was probably his best work
He will probably trade Crosby for black Kane
He would trade Letang and 3 firsts for McDavid and then trade McDavid and Crosby back to Edmonton for Letang.