The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to forge forward in their quest to bring in a new general manager to run their franchise as soon as possible. The team has now been rumored to have interviewed eight candidates for the job and according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Penguins are moving into Phase 2.
“As far as I can tell, I believe there’s been eight individuals who have been interviewed so far,” Friedman said on the Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada Saturday. “From Patrik Allvin, who’s currently in there alphabetically through Kevin Weekes of the NHL Network.”
Friedman says that the eight that have already interviewed for the job include current interim GM Patrik Allvin; NHL Network’s Kevin Weekes; John Ferguson, Jr, the executive director of player personnel for the Boston Bruins; former Los Angeles Kings assistant GM Michael Futa; Ron Hextall, advisor to the Los Angeles Kings; former Toronto Maple Leafs assistant general manager Mark Hunter, former Penguins assistant GM Jason Karmanos; and Colorado Avalanche assistant general manager Chris MacFarland.
While the team might be willing to add more candidates to their list, Friedman notes that the team is ready to go into second interviews with their current list and bring in Ron Burkle and Mario Lemieux into the interview process.
The team has been working to replace former GM Jim Rutherford, who resigned two weeks into the season.
Please not Weekes. Appears to be a good guy and good analyst on TV. We already had Eddie O as a head coach who had the same resume. Olczyk played Sid at wing. Soooo no thanks. Get experience or wait for Fitzgerald
So the team forces Rutherford to fire Karmanos, then interview him months later after Rutherford quits? WTF?!?!
Yeah, that’s very strange….
Give Mark Hunter a chance.
Hopefully we can find another GM who is far better than our dullard fan base and media realize and deserve.
On a related note, P.O. Joseph seems to have gone from a bust throw in to a future star rather quickly in their estimation.
It’s just the nature of the sport. Marino went from nobody to star to bust as well. Obviously fans will never see the in between.