Anyone but Jim Rutherford.

[MaxVerstappen33]

His name just keeps coming up and its scary. The guy was considered an absolute joke before he got the Pittsburgh job. I cannot for the life of me, find the HF Boards thread about his hiring in 2014. It was a classic the amount of laughter and ridicule there was. It would be like if Pittsburgh hired Dave Nonis as GM in 2014. The reaction would be like if anyone hired Dave Nonis as GM now.

 

Anyway I cant find that thread. But I did find this article that hits the right note. There's also a more recent article about this joker that I'll post below.

 

 

Pittsburgh Penguins' Good Old Boy GM Hiring of Jim Rutherford the Wrong Move

If you didn’t think a Good Old Boys' Club still existed in the National Hockey League, you were disabused of that thought Friday when the Pittsburgh Penguins hired Jim Rutherford as their new general manager.

 

The Penguins fired a smart man in Ray Shero and replaced him with a worn out old tire in Rutherford, whose Carolina Hurricanes teams missed the playoffs the final five seasons on his watch, seven of the previous eight and nine of the last 11.

 

Hey, maybe it’ll work out in Pittsburgh for Rutherford, and I’ll be the first to give him credit if that happens (albeit with the proviso that he had Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin already on his team, and well, it’s not too tough to have a winning record with those two guys).

 

Let’s toss Rutherford the one biscuit that has propped up his resume these last eight years: His Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup in 2006, beating an Edmonton Oilers team that didn’t have its No. 1 goalie (Dwayne Roloson) for the final six games.

 

The 2005-06 season is considered one of the most unpredictable in NHL history, mostly because of the discombobulated new rules that players were adjusting to on the fly and the brand-new salary-cap system that disarmed most of the previously powerful teams.

 

The other team of his that made the playoffs in the last 11 seasons, the 2008-09 Canes, advanced to the Eastern final after successive seven-game series wins, then got swept by the Penguins. From there: five straight non-playoff seasons in the less competitive conference.

 

The NHL is still a league you can upwardly fail in, hence the Rutherford-Penguins marriage. Think about it: The Penguins, on Friday, chose a man who could not take his own team to the playoffs the last five years over a man (Shero) who took his teams to the playoffs easily the last six years, with one Stanley Cup victory and one tough Cup Final loss the previous year to Detroit.

Mario Lemieux's ownership group messed up on this one. It opened its address book to “Get me some guy with a long track record, no matter the recent record, and let’s get this over with” section and decided to hire Jim Rutherford as the next GM.

 

I expect the next couple of years to be a further decline for the formerly great Penguins. But in the Good Old Boys' Club of the NHL, that may not matter much.

"I would suspect my term here is two or three years," Rutherford told reporters at his introductory press conference.

 

Rutherford said he will spend a lot of that potential time training underlings how to succeed him in the best way.

Supply your own punchline.

 

Adrian Dater has covered the NHL since 1995 for The Denver Post. Follow him @Adater

 

 

Edited November 26, 2021 by MaxVerstappen33

[MaxVerstappen33]

 

What in the world is Jim Rutherford doing in Pittsburgh?

 

One of the greatest gifts that professional sports can offer is the ability to witness history.

 

Whether it’s Hank Aaron setting the home run record, Wayne Gretzky passing Gordie Howe in career goals, or Cal Ripken Jr. playing in his 2,632nd consecutive game, the ability to look back on a unique moment in history and say you were there is something magical.

 

Well, my friends, you better pay attention. Because Jim Rutherford is on an absolute heater right now. And if you can definitively confirm just what on God’s green earth Trader Jim happens to be doing, congratulations — you are the smartest person alive.

 

First, let’s go over some facts. Is Rutherford desperately stripping his organization of any and all future foundation? Yes. Is he constructing a roster seemingly built to bow out of the 2012 Stanley Cup in five games? Absolutely. And is he talking out both sides of his mouth while doing it? You betcha.

 

Those are all facts. Point any of that out, though, and the elder statesmen’s biggest supporters will hit you with another one: Jim Rutherford is bulletproof.

The guy’s a Hall of Famer, for Pete’s sake, not to mention a three-time Stanley Cup champion and the only GM in the salary cap era to win two back-to-back.

 

Following those consecutive Cups in 2016 and 2017, Rutherford took the inability to win a third as perhaps the most devastating slight of his entire life. From the 2018 offseason and beyond, he set the Penguins upon a path of total and unflinching destruction, in which Tuesday’s Matt Murray trade serves as the latest chapter.

 

It all began on July 1, 2018, the day Rutherford handed a then-31-year-old Jack Johnson a five-year, $16.25 million contract that was doomed from the moment the idea first popped into his head. Even at the time, Johnson was considered perhaps the worst analytical defenseman in all of hockey, someone possessing the unique dual threat of complete possession-driving ineptitude while opting to treat the defensive zone like an Olive Garden. When you’re there, you’re family.

 

Everyone signs bad contracts, though. This is the NHL — financial boat anchors are a pillar of the economy. And when taking those boat anchors into account, Johnson’s $3.25 million cap hit wasn’t horrible, per se. Rather, it was the way Rutherford doubled down — and then tripled down, and then quadrupled down, etc. — on the deal’s perceived genius that made it stand out.

 

“Here’s my summary of this situation,” Rutherford told The Athletic’s Josh Yohe in a piece titled “GMJR defends Jack Johnson, wants him to finish career as a Penguin” that was published on Aug. 20, “Maybe Jack Johnson isn’t as good as I think he is. Maybe. But he’s not as bad as all of the anti-Jack Johnson people think he is.”

 

“Whether it’s for someone else or it’s for the Penguins, he’ll play the three years what’s left on his deal.”

Rutherford bought Johnson out a little over a month later.

 

Done to help relieve the Penguins’ tight cap situation, Johnson’s departure was only possible thanks to Rutherford acquiring his replacement — both in a financial and productivity (or lack thereof) standpoint.

 

In shipping forward Patric Hornqvist to the Florida Panthers for Mike Matheson, Rutherford managed to swap out one analytically-ineffectual defender signed to a laughably lucrative and undeserved contract for another.

 

Only with Matheson’s current deal expiring in the fictional year of 2026, his is longer.

Matheson, whose career-high in points is 27, didn’t exactly have a stellar 2019-20, serving as a frequent healthy scratch for the Panthers in both the regular season and playoffs all while pulling down a $4.875 million cap hit.

 

Yes, Matheson is actually more expensive than Johnson was. And when combining his earnings with Johnson’s $1.667 million buyout penalty, the two easily eclipse the $5.3 million that Hornqvist — who was traded for cap reasons, remember — is owed for the coming season.

 

Oh, and that aforementioned $1.667 million finally comes off Pittsburgh’s books in 2026. Right at the same time as Matheson. What a fun fact!

Is there more? You better believe there’s more.

 

In late August, Rutherford dealt a first-round pick, prospect Filip Hallander and depth forward Evan Rodrigues (along with a random depth D) to the Toronto Maple Leafs in return for a 27-year-old RFA winger signed to a KHL contract, a disappointing defense prospect and Kasperi Kapanen.

Kapanen was, of course, the pièce de résistance of the deal, with the price for his services being justified by Rutherford’s assertion that the 24-year-old can play in Pittsburgh’s top-six and, perhaps more importantly, flourish alongside one of Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.

 

If Rutherford had done even just a smidge of digging on the subject, or taken a quick trip over to Leafs Twitter, he would’ve learned something a tad different. Namely, that the whole reason behind the Maple Leafs putting Kapanen on the trade block at all was, in fact, his inability to play in the top-six and flourish alongside their own two superstar centers, Auston Matthews and John Tavares.

 

So, to recap: Rutherford shipped out the 15th overall pick in what many labelled the deepest draft in recent memory (frittering away the potential of employing a high-end contributor making ELC wages under a flat cap) and the No. 2-ranked prospect in a Penguins pipeline that The Athletic’s Corey Pronman deems the second-worst in the entire NHL for a player whose track record to this point lists him as incapable of fulfilling the two distinct roles he was acquired for.

And those are just the latest moves.

 

Sure, I could go on for days about Rutherford’s litany of recent mistakes. About his failure to maximize Phil Kessel’s 94-point season in 2019 and instead trading him for a fourth-rounder and Alex Galchenyuk, who was then dealt less than a year later. About his decision to give up a 2021 third-rounder in exchange for eight games and two points from a 40-year-old Patrick Marleau. Or even about his desire to lock Brendan Tanev up for six years for reasons beyond human comprehension.

 

But all of that and much, much more, would distract from the latest edition of this tantalizing saga. The one which kicked off Day 2 of the 2020 NHL Draft when Rutherford sold off the goaltender who helped net him those consecutive Stanley Cups before losing Calder eligibility to Ottawa for a second-rounder and a “meh” prospect.

Talk about Murray’s pricey impending contract all you want, a 26-year-old, two-time Cup winner should be able to fetch more than that. He has to.

 

And yet, even as Rutherford reads this piece and begins arrangements for my dismissal from the hockey media industry, he can still turn to the two Stanley Cup rings adorning his mantle and feel peace.

Maybe they can figure out what he’s doing.

Edited November 26, 2021 by MaxVerstappen33

[Junkyard Dog]

Rutherford doesn't want a GM spot he wants a hockey ops one. 

[King Heffy]

[MaxVerstappen33]

1 minute ago, King Heffy said:

....................................

Read the second article. Some people get lucky and fail forward to amazing heights. Rutherford is one of those people

 

[DeNiro]

He would be hired as president not GM.

 

All we need for that role is someone whos a good communicator, is well respected, and has a track record of building good organizational cultures.

 

He checks all those boxes. We could do a lot worse for a President.

 

Edited November 26, 2021 by DeNiro

[MaxVerstappen33]

4 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

He would be hired as president not GM.

 

All we need for that role is someone whos a good communicator, is well respected, and has a track record of building good organizational cultures.

 

He checks all those boxes. We could do a lot worse for a President.

 

Dave Nonis would probably have a couple rings if he got the Pens job in 2014.

[King Heffy]

3 minutes ago, MaxVerstappen33 said:

Dave Nonis would probably have a couple rings if he got the Pens job in 2014.

Who do you propose as an alternative then?

[MaxVerstappen33]

1 minute ago, King Heffy said:

Who do you propose as an alternative then?

I don't know yet. Just not Jim Rutherford.

 

Look at some of these trades https://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/james-neal-traded-to-nashville-for-patric-hornqvist-and-nick-spaling.1697775/

[King Heffy]

Just now, MaxVerstappen33 said:

I don't know yet. Just not Jim Rutherford.

 

Look at some of these trades https://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/james-neal-traded-to-nashville-for-patric-hornqvist-and-nick-spaling.1697775/

He'd be the President of hockey ops and not the GM though.  He wouldn't be making trades, he'd be in charge of getting the right people to bring in a winning culture.  Three Stanley Cups does suggest he knows something about that, like it or not.

[wallstreetamigo]

17 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

He would be hired as president not GM.

 

All we need for that role is someone whos a good communicator, is well respected, and has a track record of building good organizational cultures.

 

He checks all those boxes. We could do a lot worse for a President.

 

This.

 

Would he be worse than the President we have now?

 

oh wait…..

[Westcoasting]

16 minutes ago, MaxVerstappen33 said:

I don't know yet. Just not Jim Rutherford.

 

Look at some of these trades https://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/james-neal-traded-to-nashville-for-patric-hornqvist-and-nick-spaling.1697775/

He made a lot of changes to the Penguins roster to win those two cups, and a coach I believe.

[DeNiro]

24 minutes ago, MaxVerstappen33 said:

Dave Nonis would probably have a couple rings if he got the Pens job in 2014.

Not sure what that has to do with hiring Rutherford as President.

 

His role would be to deal with the owner so that the GM can focus on his job. It has nothing to do with what he did in Pittsburgh.

[Josepho]

I wouldn't be thrilled about Rutherford as GM (nor would he by the sounds of things), but you could do a lot worse and his work in Pittsburgh in 2015/2016 is probably some of the best we've seen from an NHL front office.

 

Proper structure, leadership, and accountability are massively important for this team and he would bring it.

[Ilya Mikheyev]

I would be fine with Rutherford as Prez but not as GM - and I would hope that he's not being considered for the latter

[wallstreetamigo]

Hiring Rutherford as President and letting him take over as interim gm (with Shaw as interim HC) while he finds the long term guy he wants in the GM seat is a good first step. No reason Rutherford has to make big changes. Just get a quality experienced gm and an organizational plan and vision in place.  

[24K PureCool]

So if anyone but Rutherford than op is fine with Dave Nonis?

I mean that is the premise that was setup for this thread.

 

K I am done trolling for the day.

[Gurn]

3 minutes ago, 24K PureCool said:

So if anyone but Rutherford than op is fine with Dave Nonis?

I mean that is the premise that was setup for this thread.

 

K I am done trolling for the day.

I will mention we already have a an anybody but Rutherford.

[King Heffy]

2 minutes ago, Miller9 said:

Anyone? Chiarelli?

 

Mike Milbury?  Messier?

[PhillipBlunt]

3 minutes ago, Miller9 said:

Anyone? Chiarelli?

 

Edited November 26, 2021 by PhillipBlunt