Jim Rutherford resigned as Pittsburgh Penguins general manager just seven games into a 56-game season. It was stunning, unanticipated and, given the circumstances, unheard of in the National Hockey League, especially given the work Rutherford did to retool this team.
His motivations are a mystery. His future is as unpredictable as it is for the team. Let it never be said Jim Rutherford doesn't know how to pull off a shocking transaction.
"He's a true Pittsburgher. He says what he means and he means what he says," said Penguins CEO David Morehouse on Wednesday.
On Tuesday night, Rutherford said he was done and he meant it, as evidenced by the reiteration of his intentions the following morning, when Morehouse checked to see if the 71-year-old architect of back-to-back Penguins Stanley Cups had reconsidered.
He had not.
"It's a personal decision that Jim made. Shocking? I'm not sure shocking is the right word. I think he's accomplished a lot here. I think he still has things he wants to do," said Morehouse.
Things that apparently don't involve the Penguins. Reports are that Rutherford plans to wait out the end of his contract in the summer and then reevaluate his career. It could end in retirement. It could continue with a team other than the Penguins.
As the franchise scrambles to understand what just happened, the clock at which the Penguins have been staring is now ticking at ear-pounding decibels. Sidney Crosby is 33. Evgeni Malkin is 34. They have one postseason series win between them in the last two seasons. If the window hasn't closed -- and there's evidence that it has -- who is the right person to prop it open?
The type of candidate they should be seeking
Funny thing is, the person perhaps best suited to do it was Jim Rutherford.
In 2014, there were serious questions about whether the Penguins would win another championship. They were five years removed from a Stanley Cup title. They had lost in seven games to the New York Rangers that spring, despite finishing with 109 points in the regular season. GM Ray Shero was fired. His replacement was, at the time, a baffling choice: Rutherford, late of the Carolina Hurricanes. Not baffling in his qualifications, having been an NHL executive for the better part of three decades with a Stanley Cup ring in 2006. But baffling that the person tasked with turning the Penguins around gave himself an expiration date: "I would suspect my term here is two or three years," said Rutherford.
That would be long enough to diagnose the Penguins' systemic problems, and to prep one of their trio of assistant GMs to take over his job.
Except three years later, Pittsburgh was on its second of back-to-back Cup wins and Rutherford was hoisting the chalice for the third time, after becoming the only GM in the modern era to build two championship teams with different franchises.
The fixer was now a fixture. Eventually, those AGM successors -- Jason Botterill, Bill Guerin and Tom Fitzgerald -- left the farm for their own GM jobs elsewhere.
"[Winning the Stanley Cup] was always in the plans, and in my thoughts, since I got here. Our core guys were special players. When you can get to the point where you can add a group around them, then you have a chance to win. That's what happened this year," he said in 2016, after that first Cup win over San Jose.
Essentially, the Penguins are now looking for the next Jim Rutherford, except those "core guys" are nearing their mid-30s and their supporting cast, retooled as it is, hasn't reached the second round of the postseason since 2018.
I asked Morehouse if the next general manager of the Penguins would be someone with an expertise in rebuilding, or if the Penguins were still a "win now" team.
"We're not in a rebuilding mode. We're in a win-now mode. And we're going to continue to be in that mode until we're in a rebuilding mode. For right now, we're looking for someone to come in and continue having us work towards winning another Cup," he said.
There are considerable challenges to that end. The Penguins have raided their prospect cupboard for years, to the point where they had the 31st-ranked prospect pool in the NHL in our annual ranking. Minnesota owns their first-round pick this year, via the Jason Zucker trade. Rutherford tinkered with the lineup with players like Kasperi Kapanen and Mark Jankowski, but the Penguins have neither the assets nor the cap space to pull off a course-altering move like, say, the Phil Kessel trade.
(The first one. Not the second one.)
This is Rutherford's team, and he's convinced it's a good one. "As long as everybody is playing the way they're capable, this team could go on a good run," he told the AP. "But they've got to get healthy. They're fast and hard to play against. If they get that good goaltending, they have a chance to make a run."
It will remain Rutherford's team. The Penguins have 18 players under contract for next season. The Penguins are like that cooking challenge on "Top Chef" where one contestant starts cooking a meal and the other one tags in to complete the dish, without having a chance to change the menu.
That said, they're not going to be short of applicants and candidates.
"If you don't have a job, they are all desirable," one NHL general manager told me. "The only possible issue could be if ownership was unstable. But that's not the case in Pittsburgh. So it's a very desirable job."
In fact, one of the owners is now sort of the GM! Mario Lemieux is what Morehouse called "a backup" to Patrik Allvin, the Penguins' assistant general manager who has been promoted to interim GM. He'll have input on transactions and the like. He'll also likely select Rutherford's successor when the time is right -- and Morehouse said there's no timeline other than "we're going to look at people who fit in our Penguins mold and make the hire when we find that."
Potential candidates
Ron Hextall. I mean, c'mon, who wouldn't want to see one of the most notorious figures in Philadelphia Flyers history taking over the Penguins? But beyond the palace intrigue, Hextall is considered by some to be the best GM not currently in a gig -- well, until Rutherford bowed out that is. He worked as Flyers GM from 2014-18, and is currently an advisor to the Los Angeles Kings.
He had some real wins in the draft for Philly -- Travis Konecny, Carter Hart, Ivan Provorov -- but his teams never made it out of the first round of the playoffs, and Hextall was criticized for not making aggressive moves at the time. (In hindsight, patience was a virtue.) He was most famous for hiring a coach whose last name sounded like his (Dave Hakstol). It's possible that Lemieux has a long memory and still hates his guts from the rivalry days.
Peter Chiarelli. The Stanley Cup winner with the Boston Bruins who parlayed that success into a disastrous run with the Edmonton Oilers, Chiarelli was a finalist for the Penguins GM job that eventually went to Shero back in 2006, when Chiarelli was an assistant GM in Ottawa. He might not be the best choice to make the kinds of aggressive moves the team needs to contend now, but he's definitely available.
Jason Botterill. There are some in the NHL that give his tenure with the Buffalo Sabres a mulligan, due to some extenuating circumstances ranging from meddling owners to Ryan O'Reilly losing his desire to lose any longer in Buffalo. He deserves his share of blame for how it went, but the current Seattle Kraken assistant GM was being groomed for the Pittsburgh job for a while. Would the Penguins opt for a familiar face?
"[We need] someone with dignity and class. Someone that thinks outside of the box. That thinks to win. That's trying to make things happen. A lot of the people that used to work here have that. So do a lot of people that never worked here," said Morehouse.
Tom Fitzgerald. Another Rutherford apprentice, the current New Jersey Devils GM only gets a mention here because Sportsnet reported he "signed a long-term extension last year, but, when promoted to the GM chair last summer, was given a one-year contract for that specific position." Obviously, he has deep ties to the Penguins. Then again, he has Jack Hughes and a deep prospect pool in New Jersey.
Pierre McGuire. Stifle your laughter. The NBC analyst had two interviews for the Penguins job in 2014, has interviewed for other openings and is an official F.O.M. (Friend of Mario). While a novice general manager -- he was an assistant with the Whalers in the 1990s, but that's it -- probably isn't in the cards for the Penguins, he can't be dismissed.
Jason Karmanos. If the Penguins did opt for a novice GM, is it possible Karmanos could return? He served as Rutherford's right-hand man through three Stanley Cup wins, but was fired by him last October for unspecified reasons. He was a major driver of analytics for the team, and had interviewed for the vacant Coyotes job last offseason.
Whatever happened with Karmanos, it was a major shift for Rutherford behind the scenes. "He goes through the ups and downs with me," Rutherford told Tripp Tracey's podcast last year, before the dismissal. "He gets the brunt of my frustration when I get frustrated. He's been with me for so long that he's figured out a way to take the punch and go with it."
Looking ahead for Rutherford
Did that changeover change things too much for Rutherford? Something was obviously different. Morehouse swore it wasn't an impasse with ownership over the direction of the team. "There is nothing with this team and the coaching staff as currently configured that's different than any of the other teams. There was nothing different, in the form of dialogue, and I don't think there was any one thing," he said.
Was doing this job during the COVID pandemic too much for Rutherford? A few sources voiced that theory, probably due to Rob Rossi's feature on Rutherford earlier this month in which he talked about the difficulty of being a "high-risk" individual.
I asked Rutherford himself about that theory on Wednesday.
"The new way of life had nothing to do with my decision," he told ESPN.
Whatever the inside reasons are for him leaving Pittsburgh, outsiders are left leering at the glaring symbolism of the move.
Here was the man once tasked with diagnosing what ailed the Penguins in order to give Crosby and Malkin another Stanley Cup, and getting them two. He made bold trades that upped the talent level (Kessel) or changed the emotional dynamic on the roster (Patric Hornqvist). He invested in players that had speed, but not without the hockey acumen to go with that speed. Not every move was a winner, and he certainly lost the string towards the end with things like the Jack Johnson signing.
But just like there are certain coaches that you can throw at a problem and expect there to be an instant turnaround, there are certain general managers you expect to do the same. Lou Lamoriello is one, for example, having won three Cups with the Devils, stabilized the Maple Leafs and then helped make the Islanders a title contender. Rutherford is another, and perhaps its emblematic that the man who fixed the Penguins once couldn't figure out how to fix them again, and then left the franchise.
Lamoriello is 78. Rutherford turns 72 in February.
Can't wait to see where the kid turns up next.
Three star performances worthy of early praise
1. Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings. You might end up seeing his name on "comeback player of the year" lists even though he had a rather good performance last season (0.89 points per game) following a huge statistical decline (0.74) in 2018-19. He's off to a torrid start, with 10 points in his first seven games. But the most amazing thing about Kopitar early in the season is his defense, which should come as no surprise given that he's Anze Kopitar. He's centered two lines at 5-on-5 that have played more than 30 minutes together: one with Dustin Brown and Alex Iafallo, and one with Iafallo and Adrian Kempe. Entering Thursday night, neither line had given up an even-strength goal this season. Maybe a third Selke for that trophy shelf?
2. Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins. How is it that Brad Marchand has gotten into the top five of Hart Trophy voting only once in his career? With four goals in six games, he's now six from 300 for his career. He has nine points, plays in every situation and has provided the beating heart for the Bruins when Boston starts going through the motions. We're getting closer to the Brad Marchand Hall of Fame debate, if we aren't there already.
3. Anton Khudobin, Dallas Stars. The Stars won all three games they've played since returning from their unintentional attempt at herd immunity, and Dobby has started all three. Goaltending so far this season has been rather horrible across the board because of a combination of teams not getting their defensive reps in without preseason games and porous backup netminders getting too much playing time in the squished schedule. We're out of the gate with a .905 save percentage leaguewide through 98 games. Khudobin is single-handedly helping to bring up that average, with a .958 save percentage in three games, including a shutout. He carried the Stars through the playoffs without a healthy Ben Bishop, got paid and is carrying the Stars through the regular season without a healthy Ben Bishop.
Winners and losers of the week
Winner: Saroya Tinker
The Metropolitan Riveters rookie defenseman has leveraged her platform for social and society change ever since she arrived in the NWHL. For example, she's used her time in the Lake Placid bubble, where the league is playing its 2021 season, to help raise funds for the Black Girl Hockey Club scholarship. On Monday, Tinker used her platform again, becoming the first NWHL player to join a chorus of fans and media raising concerns about Barstool Sports' relationship with the league. Agree or disagree with those concerns, it's inspiring to see a hockey player who knows their voice can be used for something more than just calling for the puck. She's quickly become one of the most important influencers in hockey at just 22 years old.
Loser: Waiting for Saroya Tinker
Tinker was the first NWHL player to speak out about the controversial video Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini posted, a video that featured the names and photos of her critics from their social media accounts. Others followed her, and eventually the NWHL itself said in a statement that, "There is no circumstance where it would be acceptable to call out many of the reporters, staff members and fans who have given so much to women's hockey, especially knowing that these people could be targeted or harassed on social media." But just like it took Evander Kane proclaiming that "the four police officers involved in murdering George Floyd [should] be arrested and charged immediately" before the rest of the hockey world felt empowered to rally to the cause of social justice, it took another player of color putting her well-being on the line before others echoed her sentiments. It can't keep falling on Black players to change hockey's systemic problems. Yet it seemingly does, every time.
Winner: Henderson Silver Knights
Geography has its advantages. When the Vegas Golden Knights had to quarantine their coaching staff due to COVID-19 protocols, GM Kelly McCrimmon took over behind the bench and the coaching staff from the team's new AHL affiliate assisted him. Head coach Manny Viveiros and assistants Jamie Heward and Joel Ward plan to be back behind the NHL bench on Thursday night against St. Louis. "We're just fortunate that we're just 30 minutes down the road here and everybody's healthy," Viveiros said. "That's what we're here for. We're doing whatever we possibly can to help support the Golden Knights in any possible way."
Loser: Reggie Dunlop
Let me get this straight: The entire Vegas coaching staff is put into self-isolation, and no one thinks to ask Mark Stone if he wants to be player/coach for one night?
Winner: Matt Moulson
𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄! The exact moment @MMoulson found out he was named captain of the Bears...with a little help from a surprise message on the video board from his kids. 😊 pic.twitter.com/K0aBhFMBLj
— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) January 27, 2021
Matt Moulson of the AHL's Hershey Bears gets a message from his kids at the rink. Pretty much the best way to be named captain of your team, ever.
Loser: The fake wave
This wave is so pure 🥺 pic.twitter.com/6FUdhCmOPf
— SportsNation (@SportsNation) January 27, 2021
One of the only benefits of empty-arena pandemic games -- besides, you know, the health and safety of the populace -- it's that the infernal tradition of the "wave" can't continue without egomaniacal fans standing up to begin one. And then the NWHL goes ahead and does an artificial wave with cardboard cutouts, ruining our respite.
Winner: Jarmo Kekalainen
Oh, we like a feisty general manager, don't we, folks? After making the media rounds this week, the Blue Jackets boss finally had enough of the speculative questions about why star center Pierre-Luc Dubois wanted out of Columbus. "I wish that Pierre-Luc would tell the truth about why he wanted out. He hasn't even told me; he hasn't told his teammates or anybody else," he said on TSN Radio.
Loser: New York Rangers
Expectations were high for the Blueshirts as a young team taking the next step. But they're off to a 1-4-1 start characterized by constant line shuffling and star players like Mika Zibanejad not quite hitting their marks. The kids haven't been alright, either: Alexis Lafreniere was scoreless through his first six games, while Igor Shesterkin is 0-2-1 with an .886 save percentage. The N.Y. Post is already forewarning of a "wasteland" season. Oh noes.
Puck headlines
"The NHL has raised around $1 billion in new debt on the private placement market, and the league is using the capital to create a central facility from which each of its clubs can draw up to $30 million to address cash-flow issues, payroll costs and other operational expenses amid the coronavirus pandemic, sources have told Sports Business Journal."
The Boston Bruins and others are rallying around A.J. Quetta, a varsity hockey player at Bishop Feehan in Attleboro, who was stretchered off the ice after crashing headfirst into the boards in a game against Pope Francis in Springfield.
Savannah, Georgia: hockey town.
Augusta, Georgia: not a hockey town.
Down Goes Brown wonders if the Hockey Hall of Fame needs to change its ways. "There are plenty of ways to run a Hall of Fame, but only hockey leaves the process entirely in the hands of a small committee operating in near-total secrecy. Fans of the sport deserve better."
An "old-style hockey mask" leads to the arrest of a church vandal.
Morning skates make an unexpected comeback in these challenging times.
Finally, no one tell Ben Affleck that David Pastrnak found a way to drape himself in Dunkin:
When @dunkindonuts loves you back. #WhereTheresHockeyTheresDunkin pic.twitter.com/LgEZTzcsYH
— davidpastrnak (@pastrnak96) January 26, 2021
In case you missed it from your friends at ESPN
Chris Peters, one of my favorite hockey writers, on the building of the Colorado Avalanche into a contender.