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Jim Rutherford

Metropolitan Notes: Holtby, Jarry, Van Riemsdyk, Hickey

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The Washington Capitals look like they can breathe a sigh of relief as goaltender Braden Holtby was at practice Sunday after Columbus’ Cam Atkinson accidentally put his stick through a hole in Holtby’s mask into his left eye, forcing him to leave the game. It’s still unclear if the goaltender would start against St. Louis on Monday, the first of a back-to-back set, according to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post.

“Obviously anything with your eyes is a little scary,” Holtby said. “It’s fortunate that it wasn’t anything too serious. You just move on. … I didn’t have the sight to keep going. I just wouldn’t have been a benefit to the team. it was one of those things. Eyes heal quickly, so just 24 hours and I’ll be back to normal.”

The incident on the ice Saturday in the second period and the immediate thought looked scary with many worrying that the team’s star goaltender could miss a significant amount of time. However, it looks like the injury isn’t as serious as originally thought. Head coach Todd Rierden said that the team doesn’t intend to recall a goaltender from the AHL at this moment with the general belief that the team could start Pheonix Copley Monday and start Holtby on Tuesday against Nashville on Tuesday.

  • While there have been reports out of Pittsburgh that the team may be ready to move a defenseman, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that general manager Jim Rutherford may also be ready to move third-string goaltender Tristan Jarry as well. The 23-year-old and second-round pick in 2013 is a solid prospect, but with 24-year-old Matt Murray locked in as the starter and the fact that backup Casey DeSmith was recently extended for another three years, Jarry could be a nice trade chip. He has one more year at $675K before he hits restricted free agency, although his two-way deal will turn into a one-way deal next season. NBC Sports’ Adam Gretz adds, however, that goaltenders don’t often bring a lot back in trades, pointing out that Filip Gustavsson was a better prospect and he was just one part of a package to get Derick Brassard last season.
  • Sam Carchidi of Philly.com writes that Philadelphia Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk has a 50-50 chance of playing Monday after being banged up Saturday against New Jersey. Van Riemsdyk, who has struggled with injuries as well as production, had one of his better games of the season, playing 17:01 and scoring a goal and adding an assist, despite the loss. The 29-year-old has two goals and two assists in the last two games.
  • Newsday’s Andrew Gross reports that New York Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey, who has missed 11 straight games with an upper-body injury, has had a slowdown in his recovery, according to head coach Barry Trotz. Hickey has been skating on his own, but was held out of the team’s last full practice on Wednesday. “We want to do what’s best for the player,” Trotz said. “I don’t know if it’s a setback. We just want to be cautious with it. He’s real important for us and we’re not trying to rush him at all. We back him off a little bit and that’s on trainers’ orders.”

Metropolitan Notes: Penguins, Foligno, Vrana

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While Derick Brassard’s tenure with the Penguins hasn’t gone as well as they’d hoped, it doesn’t appear as if GM Jim Rutherford is as eager to shake things up down the middle as he was a year ago.  Speaking with Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rutherford indicated that he’s not as determined as he was to upgrade that spot compared to this time last season:

I don’t know where things will go on the trade front, but I don’t feel the same urgency as I felt last year to strengthen our center position, which was a big need last year.

Brassard is in the final year of his contract and considering that Vegas is paying 40% of his $5MM salary, he’s not looking like a strong candidate to stick around with the Penguins beyond this season.  However, when he’s on his game, he’s a capable top-six player and having some of those on the third line (his current linemates are wingers Tanner Pearson and Phil Kessel) can only help their chances in the postseason.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • In an appearance on 97.1 The Fan (audio link), Blue Jackets head coach indicated that forward Nick Foligno is expected to return to the lineup on Thursday night. He has missed the last four games while his daughter underwent surgery.  The 31-year-old will be a welcome addition back to the lineup as he sits fifth on the Blue Jackets while ranking fourth among Columbus forwards in ice time.
  • A career season from Capitals winger Jakub Vrana may be enough to earn himself a long-term deal this summer, suggests J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington. The 23-year-old has already set a new career mark in goals with 14 and is just three points shy of matching his previous season-best set last year.  Given GM Brian MacLellan’s willingness to lock up core players to long-term deals, it’s certainly reasonable to think they’ll try to do the same here.  However, with over $68MM committed to just 14 players for next season, making room for another significant contract could be tricky.  Vrana will be a restricted free agent this summer without salary arbitration rights.

Metropolitan Notes: Penguins, Orpik, Patrick

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Although the new five-year, $30MM deal the Penguins gave forward Jake Guentzel on Thursday really tightens their salary cap situation, GM Jim Rutherford told Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that this doesn’t affect their projections for next season:

“This doesn’t put us in any cap difficulty for what our projections are and what our vision of the team is.  If you’re going to be successful in the cap world, you have to have some guys coming who are going to be at the lower end of the pay scale.”

Considering that Pittsburgh now has just over $74MM committed to just 14 players for next season per CapFriendly, they are going to be needing a lot of players at the lower end of the pay scale.  Even if the cap raises to $83MM as the league projects, that doesn’t leave much wiggle room for the Penguins to fill out a roster beyond players making close to the minimum salary.  That could certainly affect their efforts to bring back pending UFA goalie Casey DeSmith who is off to a very strong start to his season and should command a notable raise this summer.

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • The Capitals could have defenseman Brooks Orpik back as soon as Monday night, reports Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post. The 38-year-old has missed the last 26 games due to a knee injury and is currently on LTIR.  Washington will have to do some salary cap manoeuvring in order to activate him as simply sending one of Jonas Siegenthaler or Tyler Lewington back to the minors won’t be enough to get them back into cap compliance.  However, if Christian Djoos is going to be out for another week at a minimum, they can transfer him to LTIR which, when coupled with the demotion of one of their other blueliners, would be enough to be able to activate Orpik.
  • Flyers center Nolan Patrick will miss the next three games due to an upper-body injury sustained on Thursday against Tampa Bay, notes Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer. His sophomore season has not gone as anyone has hoped as he has managed just five goals and six assists through 33 games, a pace that’s below his output from his rookie year.  Winger Jordan Weal is set to take his place in the lineup.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Pittsburgh Penguins

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As the holiday season quickly approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads past the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. Let’s take a look at what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Click here for the other articles in this series. 

What are the Penguins most thankful for?

Kris Letang’s return to health.

It’s hard to mention the Penguins without immediately pointing to the continued stardom of Sidney Crosby, or the luxury of having Evgeni Malkin as a second-line center, but if anyone can steal some of the spotlight it’s Letang. The 31-year old defenseman has played 34 of the Penguins’ 36 games this season and is showing why at one point in his career he was considered one of the best in the entire world. After years of struggles with injuries both major and minor, Letang finally found some health last season and rewarded the Penguins with a 51-point season. That was good for 17th among all NHL defenders, but Letang had more to prove after the Penguins were eliminated and failed to capture their third straight Stanley Cup.

This year, the right-handed defenseman has taken on even more responsibility and is averaging more than 26 minutes a night. That’s five minutes more than his closest teammate, and puts Letang fourth in the entire league behind only Drew Doughty, Seth Jones and Ryan Suter. With that kind of ice time he has responded brilliantly, tightening up his defensive play and recording 28 points through his 34 games. The next highest-scoring defenseman on the Penguins is Jamie Oleksiak with 11 points, showing just how much responsibility is heaped upon Letang’s shoulders on a nightly basis.

Who are the Penguins most thankful for?

Casey DeSmith.

While any of the Penguins superstars could be the answer here, it’s the unexpected nature of DeSmith’s season that makes him so wonderfully appreciated. If someone were to have said that Matt Murray had only played 14 games by Christmas, and his save percentage was exactly .900 it would have been hard to imagine the Penguins would be anywhere near a playoff spot. But there they are in third place in the Metropolitan Division because of the exquisite play of DeSmith, who has made a legitimate case to take over as the team’s full-time starter.

In 24 appearances DeSmith has posted an 11-6-4 record and leads the way with a .926 save percentage, good enough for fourth in the league among goaltenders with at least ten starts. The undrafted University of New Hampshire product trails just Jaroslav Halak, Andrei Vasilevskiy and John Gibson in that statistic, giving the Penguins more than enough to keep them in the hunt.

Interestingly, the 27-year old goaltender is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year and could very well be playing his way into being this year’s Scott Darling or Carter Hutton. DeSmith has never carried a team as the starter for very long, but might get that chance from a desperate organization if he doesn’t re-sign with the Penguins before July 1st.

What would the Penguins be even more thankful for?

A Derick Brassard sighting.

Last year the Penguins were desperately trying to find some depth to put down the middle behind Crosby and Malkin, and ended up selling off Ian Cole and several other assets to acquire Brassard from the Ottawa Senators (with the Vegas Golden Knights helping along the way). At the time it looked like an immediate win for the Penguins, who could plug Brassard in beside players like Phil Kessel and ride towards another Stanley Cup. The fact that Brassard was under contract for another season at a now-reduced cap hit was just icing on the cake.

Not so fast, as Brassard never totally fit in with the Penguins down the stretch and disappeared in the playoffs. His ice time was reduced during the postseason run, something that has recently happened again this season. The 2006 sixth-overall pick has been nowhere to be found this year, recording just nine point in 27 games while registering poor possession numbers and being absent on the powerplay even when he is given the opportunity. If the team could somehow get a piece of the 60-point center Brassard once was they would have one of the most dangerous groups in the league. As it stands, they’re struggling to find much consistency or production in the bottom six.

What should be on the Penguins’ Holiday Wish List?

Another center.

It makes almost no sense that the Penguins would need to go after another center given how they loaded up over the last 12 months. The team has a group consisting of Brassard, Riley Sheahan, Derek Grant and Matt Cullen who have all have experience in the middle, and yet can’t seem to get any production from the position outside of their top two options. This wasn’t supposed to be an issue for them this year after adding depth, but it’s proving to be once again.

GM Jim Rutherford hasn’t been shy about making deals to improve his club in the past, and has already traded away Carl Hagelin and Daniel Sprong this season. He would need to balance the salaries somewhat in order to do anything, but is spending big on a rental option like Kevin Hayes or Matt Duchene even really an option? The team hasn’t selected a player in the first round for four consecutive years, and traded Kasperi Kapanen (22nd overall in 2014) before he ever even played a game for them. Surely at some point they’ll have to say enough is enough and keep their draft picks, but perhaps Rutherford will take another shot this time around.

Pittsburgh Penguins “Tested The Market” On Phil Kessel

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Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, the Pittsburgh Penguins apparently “tested the market” on enigmatic superstar Phil Kessel. That’s according to Elliotte Friedman’s latest 31 Thoughts column for Sportsnet, which notes that Penguins GM Jim Rutherford is still looking to make a move to upgrade his current roster. There was speculation that Kessel could be on the move earlier this year after Pittsburgh were knocked out of the postseason, though nothing came of it.

The 31-year old Kessel is still an incredible offensive talent and sits currently with 29 points through his first 26 games this season. Just last year he posted the best season of his career to-date, recording 92 points, finishing ahead of teammate Sidney Crosby and seventh in the entire league. That point-per-game production didn’t quite continue in the playoffs, and Kessel was only able to record a single goal in 12 postseason appearances.

Still, there’s no doubting that he can help any team reach the Stanley Cup. In his first two seasons with the Penguins, Kessel was a force in the playoffs with 45 points in 49 games and was a huge part of the back-to-back championships. The forward that had been figuratively run out of both Boston and Toronto seemed to find a perfect home in Pittsburgh, where he could play the part of the third musketeer behind Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

The question now is, with the Penguins struggling out of the gate, whether Kessel is still that perfect fit. The team has turned things around of late and are now within striking distance of a playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division, but find themselves pushed right up against the cap and using long-term injured reserve to ice a competitive team. Though part of Kessel’s salary is still being paid by the Maple Leafs, he still counts for $6.8MM against the Penguins cap and has three more seasons on his current deal. That room could be used for other things, and there’s bound to be interest in a point-per-game sniper like the Wisconsin native.

There’s no reason to think that a Kessel trade is imminent—especially given that he still holds a substantial no-trade clause—but it’s hard to rule out anything when it comes to Rutherford. He’s already been one of the more active executives in the league this season, sending Carl Hagelin and Daniel Sprong out to try and shake things up in the dressing room. In came Tanner Pearson and Marcus Pettersson, but neither player is a game-changing talent like Kessel, nor as substantial an asset as he would likely return.

A previous version of Friedman’s story used the term “testing the market.” It has since been updated.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Pittsburgh Penguins Showed Interest In Brandon Montour

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The Pittsburgh Penguins and Anaheim Ducks have made in-season trades in the past, most notably swapping Carl Hagelin for David Perron and Adam Clendening just a few months before the Penguins would go on to win the Stanley Cup. Hagelin was a huge part of that 2016 run, and Pittsburgh GM Jim Rutherford beat the rush at the trade deadline by acquiring him in mid-January. Well, now Rutherford has sent Hagelin packing and the Penguins are looking for more help to get them back into the playoff race, and he at least is looking west at an old trade partner. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet writes that Pittsburgh tried to get Brandon Montour out of Anaheim but the Ducks wouldn’t move the young defenseman. Friedman then speculates that perhaps Jakob Silfverberg could fit into the Penguins forward group, given they’ve been unable to find much help from the third and fourth lines this season.

Montour’s name has been thrown around plenty this season, with some also pondering whether he’d be a match for a potential William Nylander trade. It’s easy to see why teams—including the Ducks themselves—would covet him after recording a 32-point campaign in his first full NHL season. Montour is averaging nearly 22 minutes a game this season and has seen that ice time jump even further since Cam Fowler went down to injury. He played a career-high 29:36 in an overtime loss to the Maple Leafs last week and looks like a top-pairing option even at such a young age.

The Penguins meanwhile haven’t been able to keep the puck out of their own net this season, allowing the ninth-most even-strength goals in the league despite having only played 19 games. That’s resulted in a 7-8-4 record and a spot at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division standings. Jack Johnson hasn’t worked out as planned, and Justin Schultz is out long-term with a leg injury.

Silfverberg though presents a different way to improve the team, given that only six forwards on the team have at least 10 points this season. The 28-year old winger is a pending unrestricted free agent, and has shown an ability to be a consistent 20-goal, 40-point player in the past. That’s the kind of offensive help the Penguins could use, and something they were hoping to spark in newcomer Tanner Pearson.

Regardless of whether the Penguins actually have any interest in Silfverberg, it’s obvious that the team is still looking for ways to make their team better this season. Pittsburgh is still in win-now mode with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel all still producing at a high level, and have a known horse trader in Rutherford at the helm. It won’t be surprising to see them make another move long before the trade deadline talk heats up, and try to right this ship before it gets too far off course.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Snapshots: Outdoor Game, Penguins, Patrick

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The 2019 NHL Winter Classic is still more than a month away and the 2019 NHL Stadium Series game even further, but that hasn’t stopped discussions about where the league could turn next for an outdoor game. Today, BSN Denver’s Adrian Dater reports that the Colorado Avalanche are likely to be an outdoor game host “sooner rather than later.” In talking with deputy commissioner Bill Daly, Dater learned that the league is very interested in placing a game at the nearby Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, where Falcon Stadium normally plays host to the Air Force football team and a capacity crowd of close to 47,000. Given the success of the NHL’s last foray into an outdoor game in Colorado – the 2016 showdown at Coors Field in Denver – and their special interest in games played at American military institutions, such as last year’s game at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, not to mention the successful Division I hockey program at Air Force, the school seems like a great fit to host a gme.  For now though, the league remains focused on their next contest at a college football venue, when the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks square off at Notre Dame on New Year’s Day.

  • The Pittsburgh Penguins hope that their team is in much better shape when they take part in their outdoor game later this season, a match-up with the rival Flyers at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on February 23rd. The team continues to struggle and, even after his acquisition of forward Tanner Pearson, GM Jim Rutherford remains open for business per numerous sources. However, the next move might not be just a simple one-for-one to land a role player. TSN’s Bob McKenzie raised the stakes on the latest “Insider Trading” segment, stating that “anything and everything is on the table” in Pittsburgh. McKenzie says that the Penguins’ list of untouchables is rather short – just Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. McKenzie believes that anyone else could be move, perhaps adding fuel to the fire of recent rumors that Phil Kessel, Derick Brassard, Olli Maatta, and Matt Murray are among the names that could be on the move if things don’t improve.
  • The Penguins did make a noteworthy move today, announcing that legendary executive Craig Patrick has re-joined the team as a pro scout. The 72-year-old Hall of Famer served as Pittsburgh’s GM for 17 years, from 1989 to 2006. Patrick was the architect of the 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cup-winning Penguins teams and much of the 2009 championship team and beyond were the products of Patrick’s regime, including Crosby and Malkin. Many will also recognize Patrick as an assistant coach to Herb Brooks on the famed “Miracle” 1980 U.S. Olympic team, while he also served as both coach and GM for the New York Rangers over a nine-year span in the 80’s. The extent of Patrick’s role is unclear, but particularly in the midst of a difficult season, this is a great hire by the Penguins if only for the wisdom and guidance of an experienced hockey guru.

Pittsburgh, Los Angeles Could Make More Moves

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The Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings kicked off the winter trade season with a deal today that swapped Tanner Pearson for Carl Hagelin, but there’s no reason things will stop there. In today’s 31 Thoughts column by Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the venerable insider notes that more may be coming from both franchises.

On Pittsburgh, Friedman speculates about a potential “lateral” deal between the Penguins and Anaheim Ducks similar to the one they completed in 2016, which is how Hagelin arrived in the first place. Though he doesn’t go so far as to name players who might be involved in such a move, he notes that “the rumored names” were not swapped today in the deal with Los Angeles.

Interestingly, the next point Friedman makes is about how recent draft pick Calen Addison has generated plenty of interest from other teams. That obviously wouldn’t be a “change of scenery” deal given Addison’s youth and huge upside, but may indicate that teams are hoping that GM Jim Rutherford will be going all-in this season and dealing away some of his top prospects. Addison, an undersized but incredibly gifted right-shot defenseman, was selected 53rd in June, and is off to a great start with the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the WHL.

Los Angeles meanwhile is at the other end of the competitive spectrum this season, as they find themselves almost out of the playoff race already. With Jonathan Quick and Jack Campbell both going down to major knee injuries and the team already firing head coach John Stevens, it may be time to start selling off assets and retooling for next season. Friedman notes that the “list of players Los Angeles is willing to move is growing” though doesn’t give any specifics. The Fourth Period also reported today that the Kings are “exploring the market” on Tyler Toffoli, while Jake Muzzin has also been discussed with teams.

This trade talk surrounding the Kings comes on the same day that top prospect Gabe Vilardi has been cleared for full practice, as he works his way back from injury to try and really start his professional career. Vilardi, the 11th overall pick in 2017, hasn’t played at all this season because of his back injury, but according to Curtis Zupke of the Los Angeles Times will be evaluated again in a couple of weeks. The existence of prospects like Vilardi—who holds immense offensive potential—could make it even more appealing for the Kings to sell off some of their expiring or ineffective assets and start the process of a short rebuild. While the team is still committed with big contracts to the likes of Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty, they are currently sitting well behind the rest of the Pacific Division and last in the entire NHL with just a 5-11-1 record on the year.

Tanner Pearson Traded To Pittsburgh Penguins

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The Pittsburgh Penguins gave General Manager Jim Rutherford three more years under contract, and he immediately gave them a new player. The team has traded Carl Hagelin to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for forward Tanner Pearson. The Penguins have also retained 6.25% ($250K) on Hagelin’s contract, which makes the salary exchange a wash between the two sides for the remainder of this season.

Pearson, 26, is off to the worst start of his professional career and hasn’t scored a single goal in 17 games this season. That lack of offense has contributed to the Kings’ struggles in the early going, as the forward had previously been relied on as a key secondary scoring option. That’s what Pittsburgh hopes it is getting, as Pearson did score 24 goals as recently as 2016-17 and may be able to find that touch while playing alongside talented centers like Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. There’s no indication where exactly he’ll fit into the lineup, but the Penguins have been trying just about every combination so far this season with little success to show for it.

Selected in the first round of the 2012 draft, it wasn’t always obvious he was going to have a professional career at all. Pearson was twice passed over entirely in the draft, his first year of eligibility coming before he even joined the Barrie Colts of the OHL. That all changed in 2012 when he starred for the Colts and worked his way onto the Canadian World Junior team, taking home a bronze medal but showing he could compete alongside other top prospects. An outstanding rookie season in the AHL earned him an NHL debut in the playoffs for the Kings, and in the 2014 playoffs he would be a huge component to the Kings’ Stanley Cup championship.

With two more years after this season on his current contract, Pearson isn’t just a rental for Pittsburgh this season. He’s an investment that could pay off or make the cap troubles for Rutherford and the Penguins front office even tougher. He carries a $3.75MM cap hit, and while it is offset for this season by dealing away Hagelin, the speedy Penguins winger is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year and was coming off the books. That benefit is exactly what the Kings were after as they look to restructure their salary system, which will have to accommodate Drew Doughty’s huge $88MM extension next season.

Salary freedom was the goal here for the Kings, but they do also get an experienced winger in return. Hagelin has 121 playoff games under his belt including lengthy runs with the New York Rangers and consecutive Stanley Cup championships with Pittsburgh. Though his scoring has dried up with just three points on the season, he does still bring an element of speed that was obviously missing from the Los Angeles forward group. An excellent penalty killer—though Pearson is also strong short-handed—Hagelin will likely be a desirable asset at the trade deadline if the Kings can’t turn things around over the next few months. The fact that his contract is just a little bit more palatable will only make him that much more interesting.

The Penguins and Kings both likely aren’t finished tweaking their rosters, but this is a good start for both teams without taking on much risk. Even if Pearson finds his scoring touch and becomes a useful player, the Kings didn’t have the money or desire to pay out his deal as they try to retool their roster. The Penguins meanwhile are taking on a bit of risk with the contract term, but are in pure win-now mode with the trio of Crosby, Malkin and Phil Kessel all heading into the latter part of their careers and need help right away. Hagelin wasn’t cutting it as part of their secondary scoring group, so they’ll give it a shot with the younger and more dynamic Pearson.

Darren Dreger of TSN was first to name Pearson as the acquisition.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports images

Jim Rutherford Signs Three-Year Extension With Pittsburgh Penguins

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If anyone was disappointed with the moves that Jim Rutherford has made as General Manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins the last few years, it certainly hasn’t been ownership. The Penguins announced today that they have signed Rutherford to a three-year extension that will keep him in his current position through the 2021-22 season. Penguins owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle released a statement about the extension:

We think Jim Rutherford is one of the best general managers in all of sports and, during his tenure in Pittsburgh, arguably the best GM In the NHL. His goal every year is to win the Stanley Cup and that kind of commitment to excellence is what drives us all. Jim is already a big part of Penguins history with back-to-back championships, but his goal is to achieve even more, and we want to help him do that. We appreciate his continuing dedication to the Penguins.

Rutherford was in the final year of his current deal, but will now get some security and renewed confidence from the organization—not that it was waning at all. The legendary GM is likely headed for the Hall of Fame one day, after winning the Stanley Cup three times. The first of those wins came with the Carolina Hurricanes, before winning back-to-back championships with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017.

Known league-wide as a willing trade partner, Rutherford has orchestrated many deals over his career and completed another one just after being given the extension. The Penguins under his leadership put just the right finishing touches on a roster that was ready to compete, and will try to continue to do it going forward. With Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel all entering the latter half of their careers, the time is now or never for the Penguins to try and win another Stanley Cup. Rutherford knows that, and will do everything in his power to bring that sacred chalice back to Pittsburgh once again.

It’s now obvious why former assistant GM Jason Botterill left for the Buffalo Sabres when he had the chance, even though he seemed the heir apparent to Rutherford in Pittsburgh. The 69-year old GM obviously has no intention of retiring in the next few years, meaning there would have been little room for promotion in the Penguins organization for Botterill.

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