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.
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.
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.
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.
Obviously they should have hired Pierre
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
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
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.
Please not Chiarelli. Please not Chiarelli. Please not Chiarelli.
What would it cost to get Paul Fenton?
So a general manager lashing out at a reporter (regardless of his credibility) is an everyday occurrence?
Fire JR, hire Chiarelli. Fire the coach, hire Babcock or McLellan.
So a general manager lashing out at a reporter (regardless of his credibility) is an everyday occurrence?
Unrelated but Chiarelli once threw a chair in his arena box out of frustration and hit someone.
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.
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.