The Pittsburgh Penguins have relieved president of hockey operations Brian Burke, general manager Ron Hextall, and assistant general manager Chris Pryor of their duties, the team said in a release Friday morning.
Pittsburgh’s changes in leadership come after the team missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2006, done in by a 5-2 loss to the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks in their final game on home ice this season. The firings come as no surprise, given the team’s questionable approach to the trade deadline and their status as the oldest team in the league.
The search for new leadership in Pittsburgh will begin immediately, the team said. The interim management group will consist of director of hockey operations Alec Schall, AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton general manager Erik Heasley, and hockey operations analyst Andy Saucier. Head coach Mike Sullivan will also be involved, per the team.
John Henry and Tom Werner of Pittsburgh’s ownership, Fenway Sports Group, had this to say:
We are grateful to Brian, Ron, and Chris for their contributions to the organization over the past two seasons, but we feel that the team will benefit from new hockey operations leadership. While this season has been disappointing, we believe in our core group of players and the goal of contending for the Stanley Cup has not changed.
Pittsburgh’s next general manager will be given an important task: guiding the team through the twilight years of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang. All three are signed through at least 2025, and given they’re all still playing at elite levels, the team will undoubtedly do whatever it can to surround them with talent. It’s unlikely the team enters a rebuild before at least two out of their core three retire.
While the team does have some undesirable anchor contracts, they have a fair amount of roster flexibility to retool in free agency this off-season. The team has $17.15MM coming off the books in unrestricted free agents, including Jason Zucker and Brian Dumoulin, but they’ll also need to either extend Tristan Jarry or decide to let him walk. While he’s posted solid numbers in recent years, injuries continue to plague a promising career, and the team could opt to shop for a different starting goalie in free agency or on the trade market.
Those are the types of dilemmas the new regime in Pittsburgh will have to solve, aiming to inject some life into a team that’s grown stagnant over the past few seasons. Pittsburgh has not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 2018 when they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in six games. It’s a trend growing reminiscent of the mid-2010s Detroit Red Wings, who sustained three consecutive first-round losses to end a 25-year postseason streak.
Hextall departs his post as GM after just two and a half seasons. He and Burke were hired to replace Jim Rutherford on February 9, 2021.
Hallelujah!
What’s it gonna change though? They have a over the hill roster with no prospects or a decent pick. The roster is also lacking any skilled players outside of their core 4
Start by not trading for players that don’t fit your system?? Don’t extend players for multi year contracts when they 38 and fading. Don’t protect players in expansion draft that no one wants.
Looking forward- buyouts are an option. Let FAs walk. Stop the cycle.
Lose to the Blackhawks and clean house. They were horrible in that game no doubt. From what I’ve been reading all year a lot of Penguin fans will be drinking heavily tonight and dancing in the streets. Richardson pulled a Lovie Smith and cost the Hawks some ping pong balls.
Not surprised. It’d be interesting to see how this mess gets fixed.
Yeah, that’s a tough one. Either way they were all screwed. Time for a reboot and hold on to your two costliest players because if they don’t I’m sure the arena will get burned down by the fan base.
A smart/ good GM can fix this. Just need to find the right person
They have no young talent on their roster, the worst farm system in the NHL, and no draft picks so whoever they bring in better be really smart lol.
No GM in their right mind would want to inherit this mess.
Ya this job can the too desirable for anybody other than someone who wants to get their foot in the door. The only options are basically full on rebuild and sell off (not happening with who would need to be sold off), going even more all in (with what assets?), or do exactly what Hextall has been doing recently, which is a quick way to perpetual mediocracy
honestly Hextall sabotage was a success , there’s no easy fix, so i would full rebuild but only for a year, and load up on 2024-25 cap space NBA-style
Thank god.
I love Mario but bringing on these 2 stooges when JR left was one of his worse moves
Don’t worry Pittsburgh fans FSG will screw your team over like they have done with Red Sox and Liverpool and Roush Fenway Racing. Get used to mediocrity
It’s been 5 years since we won a playoff series, we’re already there
John Henry ruins everything he touches.
Exactly, the spending spree ways are now or soon to be over.
The purge of the Penguins.
What a great Friday
“We love our core group of players.”….. Isn’t that why your team is the oldest in the league. The game has changed from the style of play and speed of that said core group lol.
Hextall did a great service keeping that 1st so it can now be traded in the off-season for a starting goalie. Gotta let Jarry walk unless he takes a 1-2 yr deal to be a 1B goalie.
Need to try and resign Zucker as he was one of the only players who visibly cared and more importantly produced. In a perfect world, dump Carter and Granlund.
Fix what? Either you straddle the line with adding on the fringes or you make some roster decisions on some players that are part of the top 3 forward lines/top 4 Dmen + the Jarry FA decision.
Bout time. Now let’s get started winning more championships!
Should’ve done this before the trade deadline deals. Taking on Granlund for a few more seasons was bewildering.
Dean Lombardi needs a job!
Yeah, still waiting to hear from those Pens fans who hotly crowed, back in September, that of COURSE resigning Geno and Letang to pricey multi-year deals was necessary so as not to “waste” Sid’s last seasons … when it was patently obvious back then that the team needed to be blown up and the rebuild started right then.
Well, great. Now the oldest team in the league by far is a year older still, with nothing to show for it. They’ve got a heap of 30+ players signed to big salaries, and riddled with no-trade/no-movement clauses. Short of Rust, there’s not a single asset they have that’d be worth anything on the market. They have only ONE impact player signed to a contract for next season who’ll be under the age of 30. They’ve got ten roster slots to fill, $20 MM to do it with, a #1 goalie and a top pairing defenseman to resign or replace, and they have to pray that the roster that wasn’t good enough to make the playoffs this year will (a) magically stay healthy, and (b) *improve.*
Sorry, Pittsburgh fans. I have this feeling that your city is going to be the new Buffalo.
Geno and Letang were far from the problem with the team, Mr. Arrogant Expert. Rust isn’t worth a damn thing, he’s already massively underperforming his deal and everyone knows it with the exception of Mike Sullivan. The best two assets that they have are Guentzel and Rakell. Yeah, the pens are pretty F’ed, but not because of the reasons you declared as fact.
Geno and Letang had good seasons, sure, Mr. Clueless Noob. AND WHAT DOES PITTSBURGH HAVE TO SHOW FOR IT? Hitting the golf course in mid-April. Now maybe you’re fantasizing that after the first fully healthy season Malkin’s had in FOURTEEN YEARS, a guy who turns 37 this coming season is going to continue elite production until 2026. And maybe you’re fantasizing that after having his second STROKE, a guy who turns 36 this coming season is going to continue elite production until 2027. And maybe you ought to cut back on Iron City Beer.
In the meantime, the reason I didn’t list Guentzel and Rakell as marketable assets is that they’ve got no-trade clauses. The reason I listed Rust is that he doesn’t. (And maybe you’re fantasizing that at $5 mm AAV, a guy who’s scored 20+ goals four straight seasons isn’t performing below market rate for that AAV. You REALLY should cut back on Iron City Beer.)
You make a lot of assumptions and it’s really hilarious that you’re referring to me as the clueless one. I know what the pens are and what their players are. Never once did I say or imply that Malkin or Letang would continue to stay healthy or continue their current production. I stated that this season that they weren’t the problem and that’s a FACT. So there’s one item you’re wrong about. Numbers 2-4 that you’re wrong about are the trade clauses. Rust has a full no move clause in years 1-3 of his deal; other teams will rightfully question whether his season is due to decline and if that will continue. The production was there because of who he played with, but each duo he played with this season was much more productive offensively and defensively without him. Guentzel and Rakell have modified NTC’s to 12 & 8 teams, respectfully… So I’d say yeah, they’re assets that can be moved. So maybe you should cut your arrogance and quit before continuing to display your ignorance.
(shrugs) Tell it to Puckpedia then, noob.
With that, no $hit, sherlock, Malkin and Letang had good seasons. And you know something? So did Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. What’s the difference? A few things: Malkin and Letang had a combined cap hit of $12.2 mm AAV, and they’re tied up with those salaries for a combined seven seasons more each; if they decline — which is inevitable — the Penguins are screwed.
Meanwhile, Bergeron and Krejci had a combined cap hit of $3.5 mm AAV. The difference allowed Boston to sign other guys and afford extensions … the difference between the two pairs for next season, for instance, is DAVID F’N PASTRNAK. Neither are signed beyond this season, and the Bruins can start the youth movement any time they want. Oh, yeah, and Boston’s gamble WORKED. In spades.
It is axiomatic in today’s cap world that the ability of a team to compete is strongly tied to its veterans not taking top-market contracts. Boston, and some of its players, get that. Pittsburgh, and at least Malkin and Letang, demonstrably doesn’t. So cry me a river, noob.
Hextall had the chance to sign Quick but noooooooooo
You still continue to imply that I have hope for the penguins, while I know that they’re F’ed… You just talk circles around the initial point you made, which has been proven wrong. Good luck in your future condescending endeavors.
Trading picks, resigning Malkin to a horrible deal, can’t develop goalies, can’t keep defensemen. Good riddance.
Meanwhile, everyone forgets the worst move Hextall made (did not make actually)….
He could have had MAF for free and let him go to the Hawks instead.
Potted plant.
Meanwhile, I have had to listen to yinzers and Josh Yohe defend most of these moves which I declared terrible in real time only to listen to them turn on him later.
Can’t wait for the eventual rebuild to clear out the bandwagoners.
Imagine if Pittsburgh did not resign Letang or Malkin last offseason?
Mmhmm. They might have been in genuine contention for a high round draft pick. Think they could have replaced Jeff Carter with Adam Fantilli or Leo Carlsson? Or that a young stud defenseman like Axel Sandin-Pellikka would look good on an ancient backline?
We won’t know. Nor will we know what they might have gotten for the second rounder Hextall traded to get Mikael F’n Granlund.