What You Don't Know About: Being a GM | By Jim Rutherford

[AjaxTelamon]

I don't know if it's offtopic or not, but I actually think that Sullivan has been a blessing to Rutherford, the organization and to us all.

Many give a lot of credit to Rutherford, which is fair, I guess, but I give the biggest credit to Sullivan for how this team is working now and how they were able to win the Cup. Isn't Sullivan the one who preached about finding a team identity since the day one? If I'm not mistaken, he was talking about it in his very first interview as a head coach with Bombulie at a parking lot.
I think Sullivan gave the direction for Rutherford by finding this team identity. Speed and quick puck movement. JR went for Hagelin and Schultz then. Before that he was more of just collecting (trading for/signing) random players, especially in his first year. Some of this worked out though, but imagine this team after MJ was fired if they hired someone else, not Sullivan. I think we would see the same, not impressive team, and Rutherford probably would be trading for some veterans at the deadline, a la Despres for Lovejoy.
Sullivan trusted the young players more than the management ever did. He brought these guys along with him from WB and at first they weren't producing at NHL level, but he stick with them and later their games are kinda progressed. I think he's the main man behind this team "youth movement".

So Sullivan found an identity, trusted young players, kinda brought a different, good atmosphere to the team, not to mention an actual play on the ice, Pens are looking like a well olied machine at times.
Of course JR and co built the team, but I think without Mike Sullivan we wouldn't be here.

Well, without Ray hiring away our WBS coach and his defensive style of play (wasn't WBS #1 in defense under Hynes his last year?), then we wouldn't have had the opening. So I guess Ray finally helped us win that 2nd cup.

But seriously, JR wanted MS, hired him, and promoted him. Looks like he did a lot right there to me.

 

[vikingGoalie]

awesome article. thanks for sharing putting that link up.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I think he'd be burning bridges by doing that. Going all Brian Burke in print and saying something like "You know, one trade I'd take back is when I sent a second round pick and change to Toronto for Daniel Winnik. I thought we needed a little more muscle and he had 15 goals that year, but man, night in night out, that guy's just collecting a paycheck. We should have looked at a lot more game tape on that one," kind of eliminates options for him.

Like, what if JR wants to sign a guy who happens to live down the block from Winnik in the offseason? Not going to get a real ringing endorsement.

Basically, what you're looking for, you'd have to run into him at a bar.

Good points. Time to map out every PF Chang's in metro Pittsburgh.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

That was a great read.

 

[Shady Machine]

Yeah, I get it. It's a victory lap. The human aspect is good to hear about, especially with how heated fans get. I.E. While some were complaining that Hagelin would be an albatross Hornqvist was elated his best friend was coming to play on his team.

Still, though, I'd love to hear him discuss the Despres trade, for example, especially since it ultimately worked out in the sense that they won a Cup and Lovejoy was a not insignificant part of that. It would also be interesting to know his thinking on the Winnik deal and Scuderi's role, etc.

I guess for me failures are more interesting to analyze than successes.

I agree. It's far easier to talk about the logic of trades that worked out really well. I would have liked to hear him discuss those trades as well.

 

[Chuck Norris Trophy]

We should be happy we have a GM that embraces youth. Shero only adopts 30+ year olds.

Touché

 

[Brandinho]

I don't know if it's offtopic or not, but I actually think that Sullivan has been a blessing to Rutherford, the organization and to us all.

Many give a lot of credit to Rutherford, which is fair, I guess, but I give the biggest credit to Sullivan for how this team is working now and how they were able to win the Cup. Isn't Sullivan the one who preached about finding a team identity since the day one? If I'm not mistaken, he was talking about it in his very first interview as a head coach with Bombulie at a parking lot.
I think Sullivan gave the direction for Rutherford by finding this team identity. Speed and quick puck movement. JR went for Hagelin and Schultz then. Before that he was more of just collecting (trading for/signing) random players, especially in his first year. Some of this worked out though, but imagine this team after MJ was fired if they hired someone else, not Sullivan. I think we would see the same, not impressive team, and Rutherford probably would be trading for some veterans at the deadline, a la Despres for Lovejoy.
Sullivan trusted the young players more than the management ever did. He brought these guys along with him from WB and at first they weren't producing at NHL level, but he stick with them and later their games are kinda progressed. I think he's the main man behind this team "youth movement".

So Sullivan found an identity, trusted young players, kinda brought a different, good atmosphere to the team, not to mention an actual play on the ice, Pens are looking like a well olied machine at times.
Of course JR and co built the team, but I think without Mike Sullivan we wouldn't be here.

People get too caught up in deciding if a coach or a GM are good or bad. In any sport, there are very few who are so good that they'd succeed in almost any situation. It's not always optimal to have "the best" coach or "the best" GM, what you really want is two men who are committed to working together and whose strengths compliment each other. In that sense, they're both obviously responsible. Who is more responsible? Don't know, don't care. It was a perfect marriage and we have a Cup because of it.

 

[Zuccarello93]

Oh man, the first part of the article, RIP Trudy Daley. Thank you Jim for bringing Trevor and Carl, I love them both.