Jim Rutherford "likely out in Pittsburgh"

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BHD

Vejmelka for Vezina
Dec 27, 2009
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http://triblive.com/sports/robrossi/8209495-74/rutherford-penguins-final#axzz3XwzzaopA

After exiting a media elevator and while walking with other reporters to the Penguins' dressing room, Rutherford addressed this columnist, a frequent critic since his hiring last June, in an obscenity-laced diatribe.

“Thanks for your support,” Rutherford said repeatedly.

“You're a (expletive) jerk,” Rutherford said repeatedly.

Rutherford followed the jerk comment with a suggestion to “go sell ice cream now,” then a challenge to look him in the eye, which I did while explaining my role as Trib Total Media's lead sports columnist.

My role is to provide opinion.

“Well, your opinion is (expletive),” Rutherford said

Then there was this.

Can't say Pens fans will be too upset if he indeed gets shown the door.

Mod Edit: http://thepensblog.com/2015-archive...ord-will-be-removed-as-gm-this-offseason.html
 
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Alexander the Gr8

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May 2, 2013
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He is still living on the reputation he built himself in 2006 and 2009 in Carolina. He's a bad GM.
The Jordan Staal and Alex Semin signings have backfired. You've got 11 goals for $13M. Just awful.
Nothing was done to address the Cam Ward situation too.
 

WTFMAN99

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Jun 17, 2009
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I thought he was a bad GM and was surprised he got the Pittsburgh job.

It's a little soon though, but I guess Crosby and Malkin are not getting any younger.
 

YEM

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Mar 7, 2010
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his teams will have won 2 playoff series in 10 years [if the pens lose this year]
 

struckbyaparkedcar

Guilty of Being Right
Mar 1, 2008
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He had two jobs:
Build a defense capable of not allowing goals in the playoffs.
Reduce Crosby's responsibility from the "do everything" guy on his line, so that he's less involved with defense, forechecking and overall puck retrieval, and able to focus more on creating dangerous chances from the possession established by more competent linemates.

And failed miserably at both.
 

gdsmack267

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Rutherford hasnt been perfect but its hard to win when the team is missing so much. Rossi is also the biggest idiot in Pitt media

#1 D Letang
#2 D Maatta
#4 D Ehrhoff
#5 D Pouliot

F Dupuis - Had a great start to the year and the teams energy and leadership is so much better when hes on the ice

Take away Mcdonagh, Staal, Giardi, and Boyle and rangers would have some serious struggles as well
 

gdsmack267

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Sep 11, 2010
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He had two jobs:
Build a defense capable of not allowing goals in the playoffs.
Reduce Crosby's responsibility from the "do everything" guy on his line, so that he's less involved with defense, forechecking and overall puck retrieval, and able to focus more on creating dangerous chances from the possession established by more competent linemates.

And failed miserably at both.

The defense has been just fine considering 4/6 starters are out. And each of those guys hurt are fantastic puck movers who feed the high end skill forwards like Crosby, malkin, perron. When they cant get the puck theres bound to be issues
 

BHD

Vejmelka for Vezina
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He had two jobs:
Build a defense capable of not allowing goals in the playoffs.

False. The Pens have a 2.33 GAA through their first three games against the Rangers, and that is with an injury-depleted defense.

EDIT: although, he didn't necessarily have to build one. His only alterations were flipping a couple of players (Despres/Lovejoy, Bortuzzo/Cole), and those moves haven't really improved the team.

Reduce Crosby's responsibility from the "do everything" guy on his line, so that he's less involved with defense, forechecking and overall puck retrieval, and able to focus more on creating dangerous chances from the possession established by more competent linemates.

This, however, is what he has "failed miserably" at.
 
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Guerzy

I'm a fricken baby
Jan 16, 2005
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As a Canes fan pre-Jets returning 2011, I grew exceptionally tired of Rutherford and was vocal about it. Credit to his 2006 Championship team, it was the perfect recipe for that season and I'll always remember that, but overall, he's not a very good GM as far as I am concerned. Even while on a budget in Carolina over the years, his record is crap and he could never get it right. He had enough of a budget post-Stanley Cup to get things together and couldn't do it. He was always trying to fix his defence, offseason after offseason after offseason (literally). It was always the coach. No GM should have as much rope as JR did in Carolina but his chair was a comfortable one with owner Peter Karmanos, Jr. Finally it was his job (and he knew it) in 2014 and rightfully so.

I don't like or enjoy seeing anybody endure failure but I cannot say I am surprised in the least by Rutherford's shortcomings to date in Pittsburgh. It's only been one year, and perhaps he gets more time. It'll be interesting if he does to see what he tries to do.
 

londonHK

Registered User
Feb 27, 2014
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So a general manager lashing out at a reporter (regardless of his credibility) is an everyday occurrence?

Everyday? No.

Not unusual? Yes.

Dejan Kovacevic: "I'll say one thing about this and nothing more: Yes, I saw and heard it. Things like this happen all the time in this business. It's not at all unusual." (Source - see comments)
 

eyetest is useless

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Oct 25, 2014
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so there was no trigger for this, just a random meeting?

I mean, it doesn't really matter how good the columnist in question is at evaluating hockey players and executives, if you flip out like that just becase of being criticized for the job you're doing in such a public position, it's not a good look.

I've read the Pittsburgh board a bit and many seem to overestimate the power that "the media" has
 

Crosberry87

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Oct 9, 2008
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Rossi is a clown and I have an all new respect for JR.

That said, JR sucks as a GM. But I have no faith in upper mgmt/ownership to find the right guy. None. Mario is clueless.
 

BHD

Vejmelka for Vezina
Dec 27, 2009
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From the Pens board...

He's not calling out management for years of incompetence. He's calling them out for 1 year of incompetence and he's doing it because his buddies were fired.
 

TehDoak

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Most sports columnists would get banned for message boards for being opportunistic trolls.

I'm not fan of Rutherford (he did an awful job in Carolina and got extremely lucky one year), but Rossi's criticisms are way off. Take two top 4 d-men off of ANY team and they're going to struggle. The Neal trade was a decent return and getting Ehrhoff on a 1 year deal was a steal.

I didn't like the Perron deal, but, overall, the team struggled down the stretch and got a bad draw playing NYR vs playing the Isles/Caps where they'd be better suited.

Rutherford shouldn't engage him though outside of the press conferences/media scrums. This is just asking for trouble and giving a troll fodder to attack you with.
 
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