The Pittsburgh Penguins grabbed the headlines again yesterday as they announced the two men that will lead their hockey operations moving forward. Ron Hextall, who was hired as general manager, had been in the news as a potential candidate basically since the moment Jim Rutherford announced his resignation. But Brian Burke, who was hired as president of hockey operations, surprised many.
The moves seemed to come with equal shares of praise and criticsm, given the checkered history of both executives. Hextall’s patient approach in Philadelphia resulted in a strong stable of young, homegrown talent, but the Flyers haven’t actually won anything yet. In fact, since he re-joined Philadelphia’s front office in 2013 (first as an AGM), the Flyers have won just a single playoff round and it came well after he was fired. The future looks bright, and Hextall did win a Stanley Cup as a member of the Los Angeles Kings front office, but that was nearly a decade ago.
Still, if Hextall’s hiring came with mostly positive reviews because of his drafting and development history, the opposite could be said of Burke’s. The in-your-face manager has been part of the media for the last few years and is nearly 15 years removed from his Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007. His stints in Toronto and Calgary since leaving the Ducks haven’t gone very well and to say he rubs some people the wrong way is to put it lightly. Remember, this is the man who wanted to rent a barn to fight Edmonton Oilers GM Kevin Lowe.
That is not to say Hextall and Burke can’t have success. Both have been part of winning teams in the past and no one is questioning how much experience they have between them. But it’s a tough situation in Pittsburgh to walk into. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet wrote today that the Penguins’ job “wasn’t as coveted as it should be” and Burke even explained that other general managers have called him to tell him things will end badly, given the situation the team is in. Other names that were interviewed, according to Friedman, included (but may have not been limited to) Patrik Allvin, John Ferguson Jr., Mike Futa, Mark Hunter, Jason Karmanos, Chris MacFarland and Kevin Weekes.
Are they the right men for the job? Vote below and make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section.
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Hard to say right now but at this point they can’t be much of a downgrade from Rutherford
I’m not as hard on JR. he got them a couple rings and I don’t fault him for going all in as Sid and Geno are close to the end
When did you become an honorary Yinzer?
Rutherford was great here. Anyone who wants to ignore what he did here to scream “Jack Johnson” or whatever else they whine about is exposing themselves, not the HOF’er with 3 rings.
Even the moves they whined about (Kessel for POJ, for example) were good to great moves.
Not his fault that Derrick Brassard became an utterly wretched dog here.
Like Hextall, on the fence about Burke.
Burke is the best guy to have around when you want to bet big on acquiring a franchise cornerstone or two. Sometimes he hits likes with Pronger and Sedins and sometimes you mortgage everything for Phil Kessel.
My guess is he’s going to look for best opportunity to offload one of the Penguin stars for a bounty where he will do further dealing at the draft, however far away a draft may be. Hextall and he may be good wing men for one another exploring the best negotiation opportunity.
Also a good chance they fail miserably together.
Mario has hired two general managers since he became the owner of the Penguins.
One of them won a Stanley Cup.
The other won two Stanley Cups.
Gonna go ahead and give him the benefit of the doubt, especially when he hired the guys with the best resumes.
I liked the Hextal hiring, ive always thought he was really good gm in philly and was fired too early. but im not sure i love the burke hiring. Burke as a president isnt bad as long as he has no final say over Hextal, if Burke is mostly just a go between with owners and hockey ops along with maybe giving advice here and there then its a great move as love him or hate him he is a very knowledgeable hockey mind.
Agree with your assessment… not the grammar :P
Hextall was removed far too early with Philly and we are now seeing the fruits of his labor.
Burke is on a lot, but sometimes off. He is a good sports “personality” because he speaks his mind with shitting on anyone for the most part. Not sold on his President status but at least it is in a Hockey Market as he talks up the Canadian passion.