The Pittsburgh Penguins are changing direction, beginning Friday with the hiring of Jim Rutherford as general manager and the firing of coach Dan Bylsma. Rutherford, 65, said he expects to hold the position for 2-3 years while mentoring possible future general managers, including Jason Botterill, who was promoted to associate general manager. Botterill, who was the team's assistant GM, had been serving as interim GM since Ray Shero was fired May 16. Rutherford said he met with Penguins owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, and president David Morehouse, on Saturday. He received a phone call Thursday from Morehouse, who asked what his position was with the Carolina Hurricanes and if Rutherford was interested in running another NHL team.
"This is a job that most GMs would love to
have. I was very lucky and very fortunate at this point in my career
that I could get this opportunity. Obviously the fact that it was the
Pittsburgh
Penguins, it didn't take me long to say yes," Rutherford
said.
Morehouse said Pittsburgh never offered the GM
position to any candidate other than Rutherford. Rutherford was the
general manager of the Hartford Whalers/Carolina
Hurricanes for 20 years before resigning in April to move into an
advisory role as team president. He shepherded the franchise in its
move from Hartford to North Carolina in 1997, and built a team that
won the Stanley Cup in 2006 and also went to the Cup Final in 2002.
The Whalers/Hurricanes made the Stanley Cup Playoffs five times in
Rutherford's tenure, and won three division titles. Hurricanes owner
Peter Karmanos Jr. told the Raleigh News and Observer that Rutherford
had two years left on his contract with the franchise but that became
nullified when the Penguins hired him. However, Rutherford does have
an ownership stake in the Hurricanes and he said that will have to be
settled.
Karmanos hired Rutherford when he purchased the
Whalers in 1994 and said he was thrilled Rutherford was undertaking
another challenge. "Jim's my best friend and I'm very happy
for him. He has been the face of the Hurricanes and we will miss him.
The fact we've built such an exceptional organization is a testament
to how good he was at his job. As far as I'm concerned he's one of
the best general managers in the League. This is a great opportunity
for him."
Morehouse echoed those sentiments at the press
conference Friday. "Jim is one of the most respected
executives in the National Hockey League. He also exemplifies class
and dignity. We started identifying candidates for the GM position a
few weeks ago and we knew he was someone we needed to talk to. We had
the opportunity to speak with many outstanding hockey people in this
process. We had an original list of 30. We talked to 22, we brought
nine into Pittsburgh and then we brought four back as finalists.
There were some really good candidates in the mix, but Jim
Rutherford's resume was tough to top."
Rutherford said he thinks the Penguins are close
to the level reached during their 2009 Stanley Cup championship run,
but changes are necessary. That mentality led to the decision to fire
Bylsma, who guided the Penguins to the Metropolitan Division title
this season and the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
However, they blew a 3-1 series lead in the second round against the
New York Rangers
and lost in Game 7 at home. It marked the fifth straight season the
Penguins have lost in the postseason to a lower-seeded team. Bylsma
was informed of his dismissal Friday morning. Rutherford complimented
Bylsma and said he is sure Bylsma will receive another opportunity to
coach soon.
"What the ownership wants here is a
complete change in direction, one with the general manager and one
with the coach," Rutherford said. "The timing of it
was good because he's a good man and a good coach. I really don't
know him very well and I only just talked to him very briefly this
morning, but the timing is good because there are coaching
vacancies."
Bylsma is the winningest coach in team history. He
led the Penguins to a 252-117-32 record in 401 regular-season games
in parts of six seasons, and won the Jack
Adams Award as the NHL's best coach in 2011. The Penguins never
finished lower than second in their division during Bylsma's tenure.
He replaced Michel
Therrien midway through the 2008-09 season and led Pittsburgh to
a Stanley Cup. Bylsma is 43-35 in 78 playoff games but 27-27 since
winning the Cup. Rutherford said the Penguins might not have a coach
in place by the 2014 NHL Draft, which starts June 27, but will by the
start of free agency.
"The coach is going to have to adjust to
the style of players that we have," Rutherford said. "With
the talent level of the Penguins, the Penguins can play whatever way
you want. But certainly, with the teams that we ultimately have to
compete with, we're going to have to have a coach that can make the
proper adjustments during a game or during a certain period of time
during the regular season or during a playoff series. Obviously the
Penguins can go and they can score and they can score in bunches, but
based on looking at the Penguins from a distance, because that's
where I was, I don't think they could make the proper adjustments
against certain teams."
Assistant coaches Tony
Granato, Jacques Martin and Todd
Reirden, along with goaltending coach Mike Bales, have been given
permission to looks for jobs elsewhere during the search for a coach,
but also are welcome to remain with Pittsburgh, Rutherford said.
Further changes will include Pittsburgh's attempt to improve its
bottom-six forward group, which hindered the Penguins throughout the
regular season, and a need to create a more vocal locker room,
Rutherford said. Rutherford also said he'll be introducing analytics
into the Penguins organization.
"The analytics, if used properly, are
great to really check everybody's opinion. I'm not going to make my
final decision, like they do in baseball, just based on analytics.
I'm going to make a gut decision when it comes time to calling
players up or making player trades. But I do think this is something
we need to get up to speed on. I am going to add somebody into the
organization in the next few weeks to put this together for us."
Rutherford also promoted Tom Fitzgerald and Bill
Guerin to assistant GM. Fitzgerald had been assistant to the GM
and Guerin was the player development coach. Rutherford plans on
utilizing Guerin in a similar way to how he used Ron
Francis with the Hurricanes, because Guerin "knows how the
players tick," and can relate to them. Rutherford played 13
seasons as a goalie in the NHL, including parts of three seasons with
Pittsburgh from 1971-74. He said the city has changed since his time
with the Penguins, but its quality is one reason he decided to
return.
"One thing hasn't changed from Pittsburgh,
and I always see this when I visit Pittsburgh, and that's why I’m
excited about being back, is the people are great. The people are
very friendly," Rutherford said. "It's the thing I
remembered from long ago from when I played here. … As for the
team, obviously the Penguins changed dramatically when they drafted
Mario, and then Mario retired and then they got Sidney [Crosby] and
[Evgeni] Malkin. To have the star power for a market like this I
think is great and makes the team excited. It makes people want to
watch it and give you a chance to win a championship."
No comments:
Post a Comment