Jim Rutherford's shocking Penguins exit and ensuing chaos – The Athletic
Cliff notes
Rutherford didn't consider doing it until Tuesday, but told Morehouse he was resigning Tuesday evening
Mario is stunned
Rutherford agrees timing is weird but "It’s important to me to leave the Penguins on a positive note, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m not going to get into the details of the past couple of days.”"
Rutherford's said the last 11 months have been brutal but that's not why he quit, and that while he'd been discussing the future with his wife, he hadn't expected to do it now
Full of praise for Mario, Burkle, Sid
Said relationship with Morehouse is good
Morehouse said the resignation wasn't over a disagreement over personnel
However
Rutherford wasn't solely behind firing Karmanos, or letting the assistants go
He'd also balked at the idea of bringing in Tallon
Rutherford says that re Skalde's case, he brought that to HR "immediately" on learning and that to his knowledge, they handled it as well as they could
Ownership expected Rutherford to do at least another season