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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.

Brock Boeser Out Week-To-Week With An Adductor Muscle Strain

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Earlier this week, Canucks winger Brock Boeser was sent back to Vancouver for evaluation on a groin injury.  The results of his testing are in and while it’s not great news, it could be a lot worse.  Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province reports that Boeser has been diagnosed with an adductor muscle strain and has been ruled out for the remainder of their current road trip which wraps up on Thursday.  Head coach Travis Green stated that his official prognosis is that he will be out week-to-week.

This has been a lingering issue in recent weeks for the 21-year-old so the fact that there is now some more clarity and detail as to what the specific problem is certainly a positive.  Now, the Canucks will be hoping that Boeser makes a quick recovery as he is one of their top players in the early going this season with 11 points in 13 games and they will need him healthy if they want to hang on to their position atop the Pacific Division.

Metropolitan Notes: Penguins, Brassard, Van Riemsdyk

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Penguins GM Jim Rutherford has made it clear that he’s not happy with how his team has performed this season.  He indicated earlier in the week that he will be actively pursuing trades if Pittsburgh doesn’t turn it around and noted to Josh Yohe of The Athletic (subscription required) that had they not fared well on their Western road trip earlier in the season, a move likely would have been made already.

Unfortunately for the Penguins, they haven’t won since that trip, losing five straight games heading into play on Saturday.  They also have very limited cap room to work with; while defenseman Justin Schultz is on LTIR, he’ll be back before the end of the season so they can’t really add a significant contract at the moment.  If they did, they’d have to make another move to get back into cap compliance before they could activate Schultz when he’s expected to return sometime in February.  As a result, if Rutherford wants to shake things up beyond a move involving Daniel Sprong, they will likely have to come close to matching contracts in whatever they decide to do.

More from the Metropolitan Division:

  • Still with the Penguins, center Derick Brassard has resumed skating as he works his way back from a lower-body injury, notes Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He has been out of the lineup since sustaining a lower-body injury back on October 25th.  He’s still likely a week or so away from being cleared to return though as he’ll have to get the green light for contact first and get in some practices with the team.  The 31-year-old has a goal and four assists in eight games so far this season.
  • While Flyers winger James van Riemsdyk has resumed skating, he indicated to Dave Isaac of the Cherry Hill Courier-Post that his return is still likely another week away. The 29-year-old was brought in to bring Philadelphia another notable scoring threat up from but he was injured in the second game of the season and has been out since then.

Daniel Sprong “Out There” In Trade Talks

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have been in a dire tailspin for the last few weeks, losing five games in a row including last night at the Washington Capitals. That’s created plenty of speculation about whether GM Jim Rutherford will make a move to address the roster in the coming days, given his propensity for making deals in the past. Darren Dreger was on TSN radio this morning talking about that, and mentioned that at least a small deal may be coming soon:

I don’t know that it’s going to be drastic. My sources yesterday [were] telling me that it might start with a smaller deal. You know Daniel Sprong, who is a 21-year old second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins has been you know, a limited player in the organization the last couple of seasons. He’s out there for trade.

Dreger went on to explain his belief that Rutherford will make a move at some point to try and put an end to the losing skid, noting that other teams like the Los Angeles Kings could be looking to shake up their rosters as well. It’s not the first time Sprong’s name has been included in trade talks, given the fact that he still hasn’t established himself as an everyday player in Pittsburgh. That’s something that the organization was clear about wanting last spring, when Rutherford himself said that Sprong would be a “regular” in the lineup. He’s played in 12 of 14 games for the Penguins this season, but logged fewer than ten minutes of ice time in eight of them.

Still, there’s reason to believe that Sprong would still hold considerable trade value. The 21-year old forward scored 65 points in 65 games as an AHL rookie last season, and put up huge totals in the junior ranks of the QMJHL. Selected 46th overall in 2015, there’s still plenty of upside in the talented forward that could bring some more established talent back to Pittsburgh.

Giving up on a young prospect isn’t exactly ideal, but the Penguins know they are in the middle of their competitive window with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel all quickly nearing the end of their most effective years. Rutherford has a reputation for making big positional changes in-season, and is never one to wait until the deadline to go after the player he is targeting. It’s not clear who Pittsburgh would want in any Sprong deal, but you can be sure the Penguins will make some sort of move before the season is out. Knowing that, there’s no doubt that teams are calling on Sprong to see if they can extract the talented young forward. Whether they can pry him out of Rutherford’s grasp is still to be seen.

Snapshots: Boeser, Kaprizov, Europe

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The Vancouver Canucks have sent Brock Boeser back to Vancouver to see a specialist about his groin injury, and will not play tomorrow night against the Boston Bruins according to Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet. The move is precautionary in nature, but the Canucks cannot risk further injury to one of their star players after surprising the league with such a hot start. The team is currently on a six game road trip that will end in Boeser’s home state of Minnesota a week from today.

Vancouver is currently tied for the lead in the Pacific Division despite having played one more game than the San Jose Sharks, and will continue to try and ride a hot Elias Pettersson towards at least a wild card spot. Boeser is the obvious complement to Pettersson up front, but after a serious injury ended his 2017-18 season and already missing three games earlier this year with the groin issue, the team can’t afford to rush him back again. Even with their surprise performance through the first month of the season, GM Jim Benning and the entire organization has to worry about the future and how to get a healthy and productive Boeser back on the ice.

  • It may have been just GM Paul Fenton that traveled to Russia to speak with prized prospect Kirill Kaprizov, but don’t think the entire Minnesota Wild organization wasn’t keeping close tabs on the meeting. According to Michael Russo of The Athletic (subscription required), Wild owner Craig Leipold wanted to accompany Fenton on the trip but thanks to an injured hip could only send a personal letter, written in Russian. Though the young forward is still under contract in the KHL until 2020, Fenton told Leipold that he thinks Kaprizov “would come right now if he could.” The Wild are still a long way from knowing for sure if they can pencil the dynamic forward into their 2020-21 lineup, but this meeting—and the letter—seem to have at least moved the conversation in the right direction.
  • Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic caught up with Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly on TSN radio today, and was told that it is “inevitable” that there will eventually be NHL teams in Europe. The league has worked hard to expand their brand overseas in recent years, including the Global Series games that have seen NHL teams play regular season matches on foreign soil (or ice, as it were). The KHL has already expanded outside of Russia and into several other countries including China, Finland and Slovakia, meaning the NHL would have a fight on their hands if they wanted to put down roots in any of those markets.

Vancouver Canucks Not Closing Door On Nikita Tryamkin

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In the spring of 2017, just after the Vancouver Canucks finished a disappointing season at 30-43-9 and had fired their head coach Willie Desjardins. The team had plenty to be excited about though, as they’d flipped some assets at the deadline for young forwards Nikolay Goldobin and Jonathan Dahlen while signing Brock Boeser out of the college ranks and seeing him excel right away. The team also had three young talents on defense that were showing promise, in Troy Stecher, Ben Hutton and Nikita Tryamkin. Unfortunately, the latter decided to return to Russia and the KHL after his first full NHL season and has been there ever since.

Now 24, Tryamkin is in the midst of his second season with his hometown Yekaterinburg since returning to the KHL, and is continuing his development. After averaging more than 21 minutes a night last season, his numbers have dropped to a still-repsectible 19 minutes on average. The massive 6’7″ defenseman has just three points on the season, but is still a very interesting player for the Canucks to keep an eye on. Though Tryamkin is signed until 2020 in the KHL, Vancouver GM Jim Benning told Sportsnet radio this morning that they are still hoping he returns to North America at some point and “have not closed that door.”

The Canucks are a team on the rise now, and may be even more attractive to a player like Tryamkin in the 2020-21 season. By then, Chris Tanev, Michael Del Zotto and Alexander Edler will have already reached unrestricted free agency and may not be around, while the team should be very competitive in the Western Conference. The team does still have young defensemen Olli Juolevi and Quinn Hughes on the way, but there will still likely be room for the hulking Russian somewhere on the blue line. Tryamkin’s size and skating ability make him a unique type of player, one that could balance out what should be a very skilled defense corps in a few years.

Minor Transactions: 11/07/18

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After an interesting night in the NHL that saw the Ottawa Senators prove they can still compete among all the noise, and one of the newest St. Louis Blues forwards finally record a hat trick, there’s plenty to do on this Wednesday morning. With just three games scheduled for tonight, teams will be making adjustments to their lineups and preparing for the next few days. As always, we’ll be here to keep track of all those minor moves.

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs have returned forward Trevor Moore to the minor leagues, now that they’re off for a few days. Moore didn’t suit up for the Maple Leafs this time around, but should be considered the first call-up if the team experiences any more injuries up front. That said, with a road trip coming up next week he could be back up to fill the extra roster spot in just a few days.
  • Anthony Peluso has been recalled by the Calgary Flames after Dillon Dube was moved to injured reserve. Peluso took rushes with the team at practice as well, indicating that he’ll get into the lineup for the third time this season. Dube is dealing with a concussion, but his injured reserve stint is retroactive to November 3rd meaning he could come off whenever he is healthy.
  • Alex Lyon and Tyrell Goulbourne have been returned to the AHL by the Philadelphia Flyers, indicating that at least one of Brian Elliott or Michal Neuvirth will be able to suit up tomorrow night against the Arizona Coyotes. Calvin Pickard is the only fully healthy goaltender on the roster now, but sitting Lyon at the NHL level with little to do wasn’t an option.
  • The Vancouver Canucks have reassigned Jalen Chatfield to the Utica Comets of the AHL, ending his brief NHL taste before he actually played in a game. Chatfield, an undrafted free agent signing, has played seven games for the Comets this season but is still waiting to make his NHL debut.
  • After just a day, the Detroit Red Wings have returned Christoffer Ehn to the minor leagues. Ehn got just 6:53 in ice time last night for the Red Wings, but managed to record four hits and a shot on goal in his 10th game of the season. The young forward will likely be the first call-up again down the road for Detroit.
  • Kenny Agostino has been recalled by the Montreal Canadiens, giving the former AHL MVP another shot at the highest level. The minor league dynamo has another ten points in his first 12 games for the Laval Rocket this season, continuing his near point-per-game pace in the AHL through five seasons. Despite that success, he’s been given just 22 opportunities to suit up for an NHL game, something he’ll try to change with the Canadiens this season.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes have brought up two young players once again, recalling Phillip Di Giuseppe and Clark Bishop from the Charlotte Checkers. To make room, Nicolas Roy has been sent back down after six games with the Hurricanes. Carolina has been swapping players in and out of their bottom-six all season trying to find a fit, and will give Di Giuseppe and Bishop another chance to make an impression in the coming days.
  • The Anaheim Ducks have returned center Chase De Leo to San Diego of the AHL, just one day after recalling him.  The 23-year-old didn’t play in Tuesday’s loss against the Kings.  De Leo is off to a decent start in the minors with five points in eight games and will likely get another look with the big club later on this season.

Pacific Notes: Tanev, Oates, Tippett

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The Vancouver Canucks have exceeded expectations so far this season and are about to get even better. With 18 points in 15 games, the Canucks hold the second spot in the Pacific Division right now and are riding a three-game win streak. Yet, they have been without stalwart defenseman Chris Tanev for the past five games and have had to find ways to earn points without his assistance. That ends tonight, as CapFriendly reports that Tanev has been activated from the injured reserve and should be active against the Detroit Red Wings this evening. With Alexander Edler still sidelined, Tanev should step right back into Vancouver’s ice time leader role and will try to improve upon his three total points so far in the campaign. Tanev’s return should be a major boost for the Canucks, who despite their relative success, are still among the bottom third of the league in points against and could use some more stability on the back end, the hallmark of Tanev’s game. To make room for Tanev, CapFriendly additionally notes that young Jalen Chatfield has been returned to the AHL’s Utica Comets. Chatfield, 22, is in his second pro season out of the OHL, but has yet to make his NHL debut.

  • Following the firing of John Stevens, hiring of Willie Desjardins, and other re-shuffling of the coaching staff, the Los Angeles Kings continue to make small changes to their operations. Today, GM Rob Blake came to terms on a consulting agreement with Hall of Fame player and former coach Adam Oates, the team announced. Oates, and his Oates Sports Group, currently provide skill evaluation and development services to individual players around the league and beyond. It will be business as usual for the company and their player clients, but now special services will be offered to the Kings. Los Angeles has dealt with speed and finesse issues for years now and this move signifies that they are willing to do whatever it takes to find the solution to those problems. They hope that Oates, who recorded 1420 points over his 19-year NHL career, can lend a major hand in the pursuit of a revamped offense under Desjardins.
  • In his latest 31 Thoughts article, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman writes that Dave Tippett has been a hotly rumored name on the NHL coaching market for a while now, with Friedman sounding somewhat surprised that he was not named as the replacement in L.A. or Chicago. When last we heard from the former Dallas Stars and Arizona Coyotes head coach, he had taken an advisory role with the potential Seattle expansion team. When Friedman reached out to Tippett recently for comment on the job market, he confirmed that he was happy with his current role and staying in Seattle. If Tippett really has been approached with coaching offers and has declined in favor of the status quo, that says a lot about his anticipated job with the Seattle expansion team. Tippett seems confident with his current allegiances, indicating that he is likely in line to be the franchise’s first head coach or perhaps even general manager.

Details Of Elias Pettersson's Schedule B Bonuses

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  • Canucks center Elias Pettersson is off to a very strong start to his rookie season with nine goals and six assists through his first nine games. Accordingly, he is quickly becoming a candidate to hit more than just his Schedule ‘A’ bonuses.  Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston provides the breakdown of his Schedule ‘B’ bonuses and notes that the full $2MM can be reached by winning any major award other than the Calder Trophy or being top-ten in the league in goals, assists, or points per game.  Fortunately for Vancouver, they sit with nearly $6MM in cap space so if Pettersson’s torrid run continues and he hits one of those marks, they will be able to absorb it this season without having to worry about using the bonus cushion to defer it to next year.

Reaction to Los Angeles Kings’ Coaching Changes

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The Los Angeles Kings fired head coach John Stevens and assistant coach Don Nachbaur Sunday and brought in two national team coaches in Willie Desjardins (Canada) and Marco Sturm (Germany). The Kings hope that the pair will be able to try and fix the mess surrounding the 4-8-1 franchise that had high expectations going into the season. Here are some reactions from the Kings as well as the journalists around the situation:

  • TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports that the Kings had already made their decision to fire Stevens after their 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, as many wondered why the team opted to relieve the coach of his duties after the team picked up a 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday.
  • McKenzie adds that the interim tag suggests that if Desjardins and Sturm fare well behind the bench this year, the interim tag could be removed. However, if the team cannot turn the team completely around, the Kings will conduct a formal and extensive search for a new head coach after this season.
  • TSN’s Darren Dreger writes that Sturm would be a prime candidate for the Kings’ coaching job next year after years of solid coaching on the international level.
  • Los Angeles Times’ Helene Elliott reports that Stevens was well aware that his job security was in jeopardy and was always both classy and accommodating. He admitted last week that being on the hot seat was part of his job.
  • Sportsnet’s John Shannon writes that one of the biggest problems for Kings management was a real belief that the team had lost its passion. The team believes that Desjardins, Sturm and Dave Lowry who remains from the old regime can bring that passion back to the team. “We’re going to create a desire for these players to play well here,” general manager Rob Blake said (via Los Angeles Times’ Curtis Zupke).
  • Fox Sports Patrick O’Neal writes that Blake said a “complete level” of Kings needs to improve, suggesting that the GM isn’t happy with any player or any member within the organization at the moment.
  • For those looking for more information on Desjardins, The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek (subscription required) wrote a in-depth piece on the coach before the Olympics in February when he was head coach of Team Canada, including how he got the job there in the first place. “I saw Willie’s teams play a lot last year scouting for Montreal,” said Sean Burke the general manager of the men’s Olympic team. “I was always impressed with how much he got out of his players. I looked at the group we were putting together and thought, ‘well that’s what we’re going to need here.’ We’re going to have a group, where the coach needs to get the most out of the guys – and there’s even more of that element to that in an Olympic event than there would be in an 82-game NHL season. If he can get it out of the NHL guys for 82 games, he can sure get it out of the guys during the Olympics.”
  • The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro (subscription required) notes that Desjardins was a top candidate to take the Dallas Stars job in April which eventually went to Jim Montgomery. However, Shapiro also profiled the coach before Dallas had made its final decision. The profile includes his resume as well as a breakdown of his coaching style.
  • The Associated Press’ Steven Whyno reminds fans that Sturm coached the German National team to the silver medal at the Olympics, a team that surprised many and almost slipped past Team Russia for the gold.
  • FlamesNation reporter Ryan Pike reports that Nachbaur is considered to be a very respected coach with extensive WHL experience, but he hasn’t been able to translate those coaching talents to the NHL.
  • Fox Sports’ Jon Rosen writes that Desjardins had a tough assignment as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks which started in the 2014-15 season. The scribe writes that Vancouver didn’t have enough talent to be successful, but his coaching style at Medicine Hat in the WHL showed that he likes up-tempo teams that push play up the ice.
  • Sirius XM’s Nick Alberga writes that if Desjardins and Sturm don’t make a significant impact on the team, the next domino would likely be the team making trades to break up the team.

 

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