Pittsburgh Penguins Offer GM Position To Ron Hextall
The Pittsburgh Penguins have found their next general manager—if they can find the right terms. Frank Seravalli of TSN reports that the position has been offered to Ron Hextall, though the two sides are still negotiating a contract. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet confirms the negotiation, but neither insider is reporting that a deal is done at this point. Hextall was a front-runner from the beginning and had two interviews with the Penguins over the last week.
You likely couldn’t find two managers more unlike one another than Hextall and Jim Rutherford, the previous Penguins GM who suddenly resigned earlier this season. The former was fired from his last job with the Philadelphia Flyers for not taking enough chances and hoping a slow build would result in a championship program. The latter is a blockbuster-swinging gambler who is willing to sacrifice the future for a chance to surround his elite talents with the right supporting cast.
Perhaps offering the job to Hextall is a signal that the Penguins ownership sees the end of the run with this current group and wants their next hockey operations leader to have a history of building up a strong prospect foundation. After all, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are all entering their mid-thirties, the latter two with just one year left under contract after this season. The Penguins currently sit fifth in the East Division, well behind Hextall’s old Flyers team that is now challenging for division crowns.
That’s not to say the Penguins are going to blow things up immediately, but perhaps they will no longer be taking wild swings at the trade deadline to try and find the right winger for Crosby or Malkin. The team already doesn’t have their first, third, fourth, or sixth-round picks from the upcoming draft and have a prospect pipeline recently ranked 29th in the league by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler. Even if Hextall is given a win-now mandate, there’s not a lot in the cupboard to trade this season.
Minor Transactions: 02/08/21
The AHL (at least most of its teams) has now joined the NHL in a new season, but there are still plenty of moves being made in the minors as teams solidify their lineups for the new campaign. Of course, many of those who were not successful in securing a contract in the NHL or AHL continue to find work overseas, while other are returning to juniors. Keep up with all of the minor moves made today right here:
- A pair of veterans have been successful with AHL tryouts in Pennsylvania. Tim Schaller has earned a spot with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, per a league release, while Chris Mueller will be back in the AHL for a 13th consecutive season as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms announced a one-year deal. Schaller, 30, had been an NHL regular for several years before last season, when his lack of production for the Vancouver Canucks finally caught up with him and he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings and subsequently demoted. Schaller has been an effective fourth liner in the past and will look to earn his way back to the NHL with a strong season in the minors. Mueller, 34, is likely beyond an NHL comeback at this point, having not played in the league since 2014-15, but the decorated AHLer is only a couple seasons away from cracking the league’s top 20 in all-time games played.
- An intriguing prospect has signed on with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. Pavel Gogolev, fresh off of a 96-point season in the OHL last year, has returned to Ontario to join the Marlies, according to the AHL’s transactions log. He had been playing with Vasby IK of Sweden’s Allsvenskan to begin the year, but the club confirms that his contract has been terminated. Gogolev, 20, was passed over yet again in the most recent NHL Draft despite finishing sixth overall in OHL scoring last season. Perhaps this was due to his advanced age relative to other draft-eligible prospects or the lack of development in his defensive ability, but there is no doubting that Gogolev has impressive offensive skill and has shown repeatedly that he is committed to North American hockey and pursuing an NHL career. He will take another step closer to that goal this season with AHL Toronto.
- Blake Pietila is looking to stick around the North American game and has signed a PTO with the Hershey Bears, the team announced. The former New Jersey Devils prospect signed with the Anaheim Ducks for the 2019-20 season, but played exclusively in the AHL despite having set a new career high in NHL appearances the season prior. The hard-working forward is looking for another opportunity to show he can still be an NHL asset and hopes to not only crack the Hershey roster, but carve out a top role as well. Pietila has recorded 142 points in 266 career AHL games, proving himself to be an impact player in the minors.
- Despite appearing in training camp for the San Jose Barracuda, Sharks prospect Vladislav Kotkov will wait another season to turn pro. The Sharks have reassigned Kotkov to the QMHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs for one final junior campaign, the team announced. The Sea Dogs are certainly happy about the decision; Kotkov was acquired this summer for a pair of draft picks which would have been squandered if he had never suited up for the team. The overage import forward is a big, powerful offensive presence who is sure to make a major impact for Saint John before inevitably doing so for the Barracuda and possibly the Sharks down the road as well.
- Former NHL journeyman Andrew Ebbett made a career as a hired gun, playing for six different teams over eight seasons but still managing to suit up for 32 games each year on average. However, when his luck in North America ran out in 2015, he made the unlikely discovery of the first long-term home of his career with SC Bern of the Swiss NLA. Ebbett has spent the last five seasons with Bern, the past four of which as a captain and a top-five scoring forward. However, it is time for Ebbett to move on yet again. At 38, he is not ready to call it a career just yet, but has said goodbye to Bern and signed with EHC Munich of the German DEL. Having recently lost other names familiar to NHL fans in Derek Roy and Kalle Kossila, the Red Bulls were excited to land the veteran Ebbett as a replacement for the remainder of the year.
Penguins To Narrow Down List Of GM Candidates
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.
Kris Letang, Mike Matheson, And Zach Aston-Reese All Nearing Returns
The Penguins have been hit hard by the injury bug so far this season but help is on the way. On top of John Marino being removed from the CPRA list, fellow blueliners Kris Letang and Mike Matheson were full participants in practice today and should be available to play on Saturday, notes Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh has been forced to use 11 different defenders in the early going this season with just ten games played so far.
COVID Protocol Related Absences: 02/05/21
Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 protocol. The Anaheim Ducks have yet to report their results for today. For all 30 other teams, here is the CPRA list for Friday:
Anaheim – TBA
Buffalo – Taylor Hall, Rasmus Ristolainen, Brandon Montour, Tobias Rieder, Jake McCabe
Chicago – Adam Boqvist, Ryan Carpenter, Lucas Wallmark
Colorado – Tyson Jost, Gabriel Landeskog
Dallas – Andrej Sekera
Los Angeles – Andreas Athanasiou, Blake Lizotte
Minnesota – Marcus Foligno, Nick Bjugstad, Nick Bonino, Joel Eriksson Ek, Marcus Johansson, Jared Spurgeon, Nico Sturm
New Jersey – Connor Carrick, Kyle Palmieri, Sami Vatanen, Travis Zajac, Andreas Johnsson, Janne Kuokkanen, Michael McLeod, Pavel Zacha, Jack Hughes, Damon Severson, Ty Smith, Matt Tennyson, Jesper Bratt, Nathan Bastian, Nikita Gusev, Yegor Sharangovich, Dmitry Kulikov*
Vegas – Alex Pietrangelo
Washington – Evgeny Kuznetsov, Ilya Samsonov
Winnipeg – Pierre-Luc Dubois
As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:
(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol
Players removed today: John Marino, Pittsburgh Penguins
The good news: there was no net gain to the CPRA list today. One player was added and one player was removed. For the injury plagued Pittsburgh Penguins blue line, getting Marino back is a major relief. It also removes the Penguins entirely from the COVID doghouse for the time being.
The bad news: a troubling situation in New Jersey gets only worse, as Kulikov joins the long list of players in the protocol. The Devils have seen a number of their coming games postponed and that could easily continue given the sheer number of players still out of action.
*denotes new addition
More On The Pittsburgh GM Search
The Pittsburgh Penguins have begun conducting interviews to fill their vacant general manager position, with Kevin Weekes of NHL Network and interim GM Patrik Allvin reportedly among the first few. Chris Drury, who had been considered a top candidate withdrew his name from consideration, wanting to remain with the New York Rangers instead. The Penguins were also denied access to New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald.
Today, more reports have emerged to clarify the remaining candidates. Darren Dreger of TSN tweets that Ron Hextall will have a virtual interview with the Penguins brass today, after the team received permission from the Los Angeles Kings to speak with him. Hextall currently works as an advisor for the Kings, but was previously the GM of the Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins did not however receive permission from the Seattle Kraken to speak with Jason Botterill, according to Bob McKenzie of TSN. Botterill, who previously served as an assistant GM in Pittsburgh, recently took an AGM position with the expansion franchise after losing his job as GM of the Buffalo Sabres.
There are many other candidates expected to be involved, but things are expected to progress quickly. The Penguins are hoping to have a GM in place in the coming weeks, though that is obviously made more difficult by the fact that the season is in progress and the travel requirements/protocols to have anyone interview in person.
Latest On Pittsburgh GM Search
Feb 3: Though Drury was a top candidate and the team asked for permission, he will not be getting an interview. Bob McKenzie of TSN reports that Drury has informed the Penguins he is not interested in leaving New York City or the Rangers at this time. That’s a pretty high profile snub, but Drury and the Rangers have been very loyal to each other over the last several years and it shouldn’t come as a total shock that he wants to stay with the organization at this time.
Feb 2: The Pittsburgh Penguins have started the interview process for their next general manager after Jim Rutherford‘s sudden resignation last week, but the candidate list is still a long one according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The insider reports that the New Jersey Devils are not going to let Tom Fitzgerald—who is currently their GM but only signed to that position through this season—interview, but Frank Seravalli of TSN tweets that the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins have granted permission to interview Chris Drury and John Ferguson Jr., respectively.
Drury, the assistant general manager of the Rangers, has been on the GM track for several years and is a top candidate for basically every job that opens. An NCAA champion, Stanley Cup winner, and two-time Olympic silver medalist as a player, Drury made a quick climb through the executive ranks and was named GM of Team USA at the 2019 World Championship. He’ll be a GM somewhere, though up until now the Rangers had been keeping him away from other opportunities.
Ferguson Jr. is another story, though his inclusion shouldn’t be scoffed at just because of his previous failures. The veteran front office member took over as GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2003 and found little success, but has been climbing back up the ranks and building his reputation since his firing in 2008. He has worked as Boston director of player personnel since 2014 and as GM of the Providence Bruins since 2016, with his name often coming up in connection with openings around the league.
Friedman offers up another couple of names that hadn’t been mentioned before: Joe Nieuwendyk and Jason Karmanos. The former was the GM of the Dallas Stars between 2009-2013 but has been behind the scenes in recent years. The latter is kind of a shocking inclusion, given he was fired from his role as AGM with the Penguins in October.
Even though the list of candidates is long, the Penguins are expected to try and hurry along with a decision in order to have a GM in place as soon as possible. Currently, the team is being run by interim GM Patrik Allvin, with help from owner Mario Lemieux.
TSN’s Frank Seravalli has confirmed another NHL executive on the Penguins’ shortlist later in the evening: Colorado Avalanche Assistant GM Chris MacFarland. The Avs have given Pittsburgh permission to interview MacFarland, who joins Drury and Ferguson as confirmed candidates. Seravalli adds that this process could move quicker than some may have expected. He notes that the Penguins have received interest in the vacancy from upwards of 20 legitimate names and hope to have their list of six or seven candidates whittled down by the end of the week. He goes so far as to say that the team hopes to have hired their new GM within the next two weeks.
Snapshots: Weekes, Ontario, Vegas
There’s another interesting name to throw on the pile of candidates for the Pittsburgh Penguins’ GM job, as Frank Seravalli of TSN reports that NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes will be among the first to interview for the role. The former NHL goaltender has no experience in the front office but did play more than a decade in the league and has been a strong broadcaster since his retirement.
Patrik Allvin, the interim GM, will also be among the first few interviews according to Seravalli. Just yesterday it was reported that both Chris Drury and John Ferguson Jr. had received permission from their respective teams to speak with the Penguins, while many other candidates have been mentioned since Jim Rutherford‘s unexpected resignation.
- The AHL released a schedule for the season that is set to start on Friday, but no games were listed for the North Division, made up of the Canadian-based teams. That’s because of some resistance from the Ontario provincial government, but Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports that there has been some progress between the two sides. The Toronto Marlies and Belleville Senators, the two teams based in Ontario, will likely have to start the season on a road trip to make things work according to Johnston, but could be “up and running in the next week or two.”
- The Vegas Golden Knights are set to resume their schedule on Friday against the Los Angeles Kings after positive COVID tests shut things down, and were on the ice today preparing. Among those absent from practice were defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and head coach Pete DeBoer, along with assistants Ryan Craig and Ryan McGill. There is still a little bit of time before the game for Pietrangelo to come off the COVID Protocol Related Absences list, but for now, it appears as though they will prepare without their big free agent acquisition. Kaedan Korczak, one of the team’s top defensive prospects, was recalled to the taxi squad today.
NHL Postpones Several New Jersey Devils Games
More NHL games have been postponed, this time because of a COVID outbreak among the New Jersey Devils. At least the team’s next three games, including two against the Pittsburgh Penguins and one against the New York Rangers, have been postponed due to the COVID protocol. The Devils have ten players on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list today.
This makes 14 games that have been officially postponed during the first few weeks of the 2020-21 season. All of those contests were outside of the East Division, meaning this is the first disruption to the schedule for the Devils, Penguins, and Rangers.
The team’s training facilities have been closed to all players on the active roster effective immediately and will remain so until further notice. The league is continuing to review the Devils’ schedule. There could be further postponements beyond February 6, but at this point, only the next three games have been pushed.
Injury Notes: Mrazek, Letang, Thornton
The Carolina Hurricanes are going to be without starting goaltender Petr Mrazek for longer than initially thought. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour said today that the injury suffered against the Dallas Stars on Saturday is “more serious” than they originally believed and Mrazek may even require surgery. That’s terrible news for a goaltender who was leading the league with a .955 save percentage and 0.99 goals-against average through his first four appearances. Mrazek had already recorded two shutouts on the year and looked to be playing at an entirely different level in the early going.
For the Hurricanes, it means James Reimer will take most of the load, while minor league netminder Alex Nedeljkovic will get a chance to serve as the primary backup. The 25-year-old Nedeljkovic was placed on waivers earlier this season but the Hurricanes managed to hold onto him. He has just six appearances at the NHL level but won the AHL Goaltender of the Year award in 2019, leading the Charlotte Checkers to a Calder Cup.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins won’t have Kris Letang in the lineup tonight as the star defenseman continues to be evaluated for an injury he suffered on Saturday night. The Penguins have lost almost all of their defensive depth to injury this season, but at least one silver lining continues to grow. Pierre-Olivier Joseph has been a shining light for the team in the early going and logged nearly 26 minutes against the New York Rangers on Saturday in just his fifth NHL game. He’ll be asked to carry a heavy load if Letang is out long-term, given the lack of offensive upside many of the other options possess.
- Joe Thornton and Nicholas Robertson were both on the ice for the Toronto Maple Leafs today as they continue to work their way back from injury. Head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters including Kristen Shilton of TSN that nothing has changed in the recovery timelines originally given, which were a minimum of four weeks. The Maple Leafs have a few days off before resuming the grind of the condensed season on Thursday in the first of three straight games against the Vancouver Canucks.