Jim Rutherford "likely out in Pittsburgh"

[Paxon]

Obviously they should have hired Pierre

 

[TNT87]

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.

I definitely agree. I don't trust ownership to make the correct move in hiring a competent GM.

 

[Get To Our Game]

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.

Dejan Kovacevic's original point on the topic, made in the comments section of one of his articles:

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. The only difference in this case is that it was written about, even though the exchange was not an interview and not on the record. That is something I have never done and will never do. If I do, I will personally write all of you refund checks for your subscriptions.

 

[Devourers]

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 traded Despres away for a guy who had almost no chance of living up to expectations and 99% of fans knew was a bad trade since day 1.

The guy might be a horrid reporter but it isn't like JR is a solid GM either The guy has gotten by on reputation for way too long, over a lucky run a decade ago.

Obviously they should have hired Pierre

Anyone who knows me knows I'm the furthest thing from a McGuire supporter, but if it was between him and JR I'd much rather go with Pierre. At least you aren't 100% sure your GM is going to be crap like you are with JR, just 99%

 

[TOGuy14]

http://triblive.com/sports/robrossi/8209495-74/rutherford-penguins-final#axzz3XwzzaopA



Then there was this.

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

Jim Rutherford was a bad decision the day they hired him and it is still a bad decision today.

I don't know why anyone thought he would turn around Pittsburgh. He may have drafted fairly well in Carolina but his handling of FAs was generally just overpaying in term and dollar and he didn't have many great standout trades

 

[BHD]

Jim Rutherford was a bad decision the day they hired him and it is still a bad decision today.

I don't know why anyone thought he would turn around Pittsburgh. He may have drafted fairly well in Carolina but his handling of FAs was generally just overpaying in term and dollar and he didn't have many great standout trades

"But look at this! He built a Stanley Cuo winner in 2006. We know that's almost 10 years ago, but it is still relevant."

 

[DyerMaker66*]

Please not Chiarelli. Please not Chiarelli. Please not Chiarelli.

What would it cost to get Paul Fenton?

 

[the halleJOKEL]

Jim Rutherford was a bad decision the day they hired him and it is still a bad decision today.

I don't know why anyone thought he would turn around Pittsburgh. He may have drafted fairly well in Carolina but his handling of FAs was generally just overpaying in term and dollar and he didn't have many great standout trades

his drafting is actually abysmal throughout his entire career

his handling of FAs was "i am going to overpay and then toss an NMC on top of that"

he is a horrible GM. we have been hemorrhaging talent since 2006 and have done nearly nothing to replace it

 

[Blueline Bomber]

his drafting is actually abysmal throughout his entire career

his handling of FAs was "i am going to overpay and then toss an NMC on top of that"

he is a horrible GM. we have been hemorrhaging talent since 2006 and have done nearly nothing to replace it

Bingo. There's very few things that Rutherford did right in Carolina. On occasion, he would get the upper hand in a trade, but it was often overshadowed by baffling draft decisions, overpaying free agents/upcoming free agents, or trading away future talent for lesser players that are more developed.

The latter is exactly what he did in the Despres for Lovejoy trade.

 

[Jacob]

As a Pens fan I hope this results in both of their firings.

 

[DyerMaker66*]

Bingo. There's very few things that Rutherford did right in Carolina. On occasion, he would get the upper hand in a trade, but it was often overshadowed by baffling draft decisions, overpaying free agents/upcoming free agents, or trading away future talent for lesser players that are more developed.

The latter is exactly what he did in the Despres for Lovejoy trade.

I don't even understand that trade. It made me even angrier that we fired Shero for this guy.

 

[BabaBooey1]

He's awful. Made the team worse and hurt their future. I'd fire their coach aswell. Clean house, trade/buy-out MAF, trade Geno for depth would be my plan.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

He should be given a medal.

Rossi is the worst damned sports journalist I've ever seen and he's had an agenda since his buddies Rejean & Danny were fired. Hell, he openly admits to not watching the games.

 

[Voight]

Please not Chiarelli. Please not Chiarelli. Please not Chiarelli.

What would it cost to get Paul Fenton?

Fenton seems like a Nill type to me, hell stay with his team a very long time before he considered another front office job. Or he'll wait for the right situation, which isn't Pittsburgh IMO.

Preds would want something big for compensation tho.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

As for the whole "the exchange wasn't an interview and wasn't on the record" thing, Rutherford has been in the business long enough to know that if you're talking with a reporter, it's on the record unless otherwise stated.

 

[Zirakzigil]

If he is done it wont be because of what he said, cause it is true about Rossi .

 

[PromNite]

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

If it's Tortorella and Larry Brooks, then yes.

edit: Torts was a coach, obviously, not a GM. Same point remains, though

 

[Big McLargehuge]

I'm pretty sure Torts would have decked Rossi by the second week of October.

 

[roboninja]

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

Wait, that's our plan! Just substitute JR for MacT.

 

[Farnham4top6]

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

So? The team is mobbing him

 

[Era of Sanity]

Unrelated but Chiarelli once threw a chair in his arena box out of frustration and hit someone.

Cam got his revenge.

 

[billybudd]

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.

To be fair, he did manage to accomplish both of those things. The problem is that the components that accomplished those goals are all injured simultaneously.

What's going to get (well, what supposedly already has gotten) JR fired is
a) cap management
b) squandered assets
c) that he's a fossil whose time has passed

That 2nd and 3rd (4th?) for 4 weeks of Daniel Winnik is stealthily one of the dumbest, most pointless moves I can recall any Pittsburgh GM making and it forced us to play 5 freaking D for nearly a month.

 

[Phenomenon13]

Should have hired Pierre. He would have fixed things up.

 

[BHD]

As for the whole "the exchange wasn't an interview and wasn't on the record" thing, Rutherford has been in the business long enough to know that if you're talking with a reporter, it's on the record unless otherwise stated.

Another sign of just how clueless he is.

 

[Benedict Kovalchuk]

I can't wait to see this guy at the draft and free agency. Pens fans look forward to Heatley come July.