Jim Rutherford "likely out in Pittsburgh"

[sjci]

http://thepensblog.com/2015-archive...therford-will-be-removed-as-gm-this-offseason

says JR is done

 

[w e l o s t b o y s]

JR is legend

 

[Viqsi]

Rossi's just bitter that Jack Johnson inexplicably continues to remain a Blue Jacket.

 

[THall4]

Mario made a mistake hiring Rutherford to begin with. The league passed him by years ago...

 

[TheFactor]

How do people expect Pittburg to win with Letang, Erhoff, Pouliot, and Maaata all injured?

It's not his fault. I think the pens would actually be leading the series right now if aty least 2 of those guys were healthy. The inability to generate offense from the back-end is so evident when watching the games.

 

[roboninja]

Rutherford was never a good GM. I was shocked when he got the job in PIT and am not surprised things have not worked out.

 

[txpd]

So a general manager lashing out at a reporter (regardless of his credibility) is an everyday occurrence?

everyday? has he been doing it everyday or was this the first time?

 

[Greeneye]

JR might be done after one year but he hasn't done a bad job. I think he has done ok with the cards he was dealt. No GM is going to look good with the injuries to the defense. Rossi is a hack, always has been.

 

[Kranix]

Is Bill Gwaron ready to be a GM?

 

[Midnight Judges]

The guy sounds about as professional as the Pens announcers.

 

[Raspewtin]

He should've never been hired?

He's been terrible for years and everyone knew it.

 

[Mr Forever]

My role is to provide opinion.

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

This sounds like a line from Step Brothers. What a little man child *****.

 

[gdsmack267]

DK saying Rossi lied about JR going off on him. Said it was conversation that could barely be heard 5 feet away

 

[BHD]

everyday? has he been doing it everyday or was this the first time?

Dejan Kovacevic said "Things like this happen all the time in this business." However, he was referring to the relationship between people covering the business and those actually involved. This is the first time a spat between the two has gone on record.

Edit: and it might even be that big of a deal.

He should've never been hired?

He's been terrible for years and everyone knew it.

Except those from the "look at what he did in 2006" crowd.

 

[evermix*]

Fire JR, hire Chiarelli. Fire the coach, hire Babcock or McLellan.

 

[Debrincat93]

The guy sounds about as professional as the Pens announcers.

Ding ding!

 

[struckbyaparkedcar]

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.



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

The Pens won the Cup relying on the forwards and a one-legged Gonchar for offense, throwing out Orpik/Gill-Scuds/Eaton, and daring the other team to shoot through them. That blueprint is in the garbage, even though Letang is an obvious Gonchar replacement and Maatta is a growing two-way guy.

The Pens defense is obviously better when it's not injured, but it also contains too many offensive players (especially when multiplied by not-great defensive forward support) to really get me hyped about its potential in the playoffs.

 

[BHD]

The Pens won the Cup relying on the forwards and a one-legged Gonchar for offense, throwing out Orpik/Gill-Scuds/Eaton, and daring the other team to shoot through them. That blueprint is in the garbage, even though Letang is an obvious Gonchar replacement and Maatta is a growing two-way guy.

The Pens defense is obviously better when it's not injured, but it also contains too many offensive players (especially when multiplied by not-great defensive forward support) to really get me hyped about its potential in the playoffs.

And that's just your opinion. Try waiting to see a healthy defense before categorizing it as a failure.

 

[Voight]

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.

He didn't get "extremely lucky" he built that team from the ground up and made some major clutch deadline moves. The Canes also made the finals in 02 as the 16th best team in the league and nearly upset Pittsburgh in 09. Granted he's sucked since, but still.

 

[Voight]

http://thepensblog.com/2015-archive...therford-will-be-removed-as-gm-this-offseason

says JR is done

Not a verified source.

But LOL Guerin as GM, great idea having a rookie run the team. He's bene in the front office what, 2-3 years? At least the Bergevins of the league had many years in front office/coaching before becoming GMs.

Even if he "resigns" everybody knows it'll be them firing his ass.

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

Both are right and both are wrong.

JR is right that Rossi sucks. Rossi is right that JR sucks.

JR is wrong to call out Rossi publicly, no matter how cathartic is may have been. Rossi is wrong to put something in print that, while in public, was not necessarily on the record therefore making the story about him.

The best option is to fire both.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Fire JR, hire Chiarelli. Fire the coach, hire Babcock or McLellan.

Fire JR, hire Milbury. Fire the coach, hire McGuire.

 

[Viqsi]

DK saying Rossi lied about JR going off on him. Said it was conversation that could barely be heard 5 feet away

Source? I want to believe this as it's so like him, but that just means that one should be all the more cautious about being taken in.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Lol at "go sell ice cream now".

Rossi is a joke, but i don't really feel comfortable with Rutherford as GM. Still scratching my head about the hire, considering what he did to Carolina.

 

[BHD]

He didn't get "extremely lucky" he built that team from the ground up and made some major clutch deadline moves. The Canes also made the finals in 02 as the 16th best team in the league and nearly upset Pittsburgh in 09. Granted he's sucked since, but still.

The Canes were swept by a score of 20-9. They turned heads en route to facing the Pens, but they didn't "nearly upset" them when they got there.

As for past teams he built... those are years ago. His recent work suggests he has no idea how to put a contender, let alone a playoff team together.