Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford Lashes Out: Reportedly Being Replaced Next Season
By Mike Necciai
The Pittsburgh Penguins, while not in dire straits just yet, dropped game 3 to the New York Rangers at home to fall behind in the series 2-1. Surprisingly, though, that wasn’t the biggest news to come out of Consol Energy Center last night.
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According to reports, General Manager Jim Rutherford fired shots at Columnist Rob Rossi after the contest. Rutherford is said to have used multiple expletives, while also telling Rossi to “go sell ice cream now”.
The full article on the debacle from Rob Rossi can be found here.
The ice cream reference is likely due to Rob Rossi’s family being in the ice cream business. So, it seems as if Jim Rutherford has been enamored enough by Rossi to do some research on the columnist.
No matter your feelings on Rossi and his work, you still expect a more professional approach by an NHL GM. The Pittsburgh Penguins have to be up in arms over the comments by Rutherford, but we haven’t heard any mention of an apology. I’m not sure there will be, but as a General Manager you have to expect that reporters will criticize your work. It’s simply a part of your job to ignore such things and move on with your business.
After last night’s events, it seems that there are reports that Rutherford will be replaced after this season, with Bill Guerin being mentioned as the candidate to step into that role.
You can find that initial report here, originally broke by our friends at the PensBlog.
If this becomes reality, you have to wonder what happened to the original plan of Assistant GM Jason Botterill being groomed by Rutherford. There were early reports that the two weren’t getting along as planned, but it didn’t seem to hold much weight. This, however, could be a sign that the organization is unhappy with both of these Gentlemen.
Bill Guerin, while we don’t have a large sample size of his work on the business end, doesn’t seem to be a bad choice by any means. He has been known for his well-rounded knowledge of the game, and also has been doing a lot of work in player development.
This is going to be an interesting storyline to keep an eye on. Having run into avoidable cap issues, and making a few questionable personnel moves such as trading Simon Despres for Ben Lovejoy, Rutherford may have derailed the Pittsburgh Penguins original plans for it’s reorganization.
Of course, we’ll continue to bring you any news relevant to this as the playoffs and offseason progress.