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Looking at Jim Rutherford’s time with the Pittsburgh Penguins

On Wednesday, the hockey world was shocked to find out that Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford had stepped down due to personal reasons. Assistant general manager Patrick Allvin is the new interim general manager.

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Rutherford was the Penguins general manager since 2014 and has certainly left his mark on the team. Two Stanley Cups, one General Manager of the Year Award and an induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame showcase his resume.

Today, let us look back on the tenure of the Penguins’ 10th general manager and what he achieved in his seven years in Pittsburgh. A general manager is responsible for multiple things in hockey. But for the sake of this article, let us go over the three main areas of player transactions. That being trades, drafting and signings. Of course, we will not be going over every single move Rutherford has made, rather the notable ones only.

Jim Rutherford Trades: Hit or Miss

If there is one thing that Rutherford will always be remembered for, it will be his trades. Rutherford was no stranger to making moves and shaking up his team. The first big trade that Rutherford ever made was trading former 40 goal scorer James Neal to Nashville for Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling. This immediately shifted the tone for the Penguins as just recently former head coach Dan Bylsma was fired by Rutherford.

What Pittsburgh needed badly in the mid-2010s was a top-six winger to play with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Rutherford made it his goal in the offseason of 2015 to find this player. That is exactly what he did. On July 1, 2015 during free agency frenzy, Jim Rutherford made one of the biggest trades in Penguins history. He acquired Phil Kessel in a blockbuster deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs that sent futures the Leafs way.

Looking back on this trade now it is a win-win for both sides. The Maple Leafs got Kasperi Kapanen for five seasons and a first-round pick which they traded to Anaheim to get goaltender Fredrick Andersen. The Penguins got four years from Phil Kessel who had 303 points in 328 games played in Pittsburgh. He was a monster in the playoffs and was a key cog to the Penguins back to back Stanley Cup Championship machine in 2016 and 2017. Remember, Phil Kessel is a two-time Stanley Cup champion.

Rutherford was also able to add some great under-the-radar players to the Penguins roster during the Cup runs. Trevor Daley, Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino, Justin Schultz and Ron Hainsey were all players that were vital to the championships. After 2017, things started to get interesting though as Rutherford became trade-happy trying to keep the Penguins Stanley Cup window alive.

Recent Trades by Rutherford

In his entire tenure as general manager, Jim Rutherford has only held on to one single first-round draft pick. That is of course Penguins’ current prospect and 2019 draft pick Samuel Poulin. Kasperi Kapanen, Olli Maatta and the other seven first-round picks have all been traded. Derek Brassard, Ryan Reaves, David Perron and now Kapanen and Jason Zucker have been acquired with these picks.

Perhaps the most notorious trade that Rutherford has made was the deal that shipped out Phil Kessel. There were many allegations that Kessel and Malkin did not get along and thus Kessel was moved out of town. The Penguins got a fourth-round pick, current defender Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Alex Galchenyuk.

Galchenyuk was a bust in Pittsburgh only scoring five goals in 45 games before being exiled to Minnesota.

The most recent big trades that Rutherford made before his departure were the aforementioned use of a first-round pick to acquire Kapanen and Zucker, as well as two trades that found young defenders. John Marino and Marcus Pettersson were both young project defenders that Rutherford found and turned into top-four defenders which they remain today.

Looking back on Rutherford’s trades it is easy to consider his 2016 and 2017 deals as all masterpieces. However, the reality is that most of it was luck, which you have to have to win a championship. Jim made the right moves in past years and also got lucky with players such as Hagelin, Bonino and Kessel.

The Phil Kessel trade will go down as one of the most successful trades in Penguins’ history. Other, more recent trades such as the deal sending Kessel out of town, as well as the Brassard and Reaves trades, not so much.

Best Trade: Getting Phil Kessel
Worst Trade: Getting rid of Phil Kessel

Signings: Nothing Spectacular

On the surface, Jim Rutherford’s signings are not as big and flashy as some of his trades are. But some key players have been added to the Penguins roster via free-agency that have helped the team win Stanley Cups. Eric Fehr, Matt Cullen and Carter Rowney all served as solid bottom-six forwards in the Penguins Cup-runs. Recently, Brandon Tanev has proved to be a clutch signing for the Penguins as he was signed in 2019.

But for the most part, Rutherford’s signings were nothing crazy and a lot of free agents that he brought in are forgotten names in town now. Christian Ehrhoff, Steve Downie, Antti Niemi, Matt Hunwick and Blake Comeau are examples. Heck even Mike Johnston could fall into the category as a coaching signing and we all know how that turned out.

Also in this category of signings, we can talk about extensions. Rutherford has had a good track record for extending players. He extended Marc-Andre Fleury in 2014 at $5.75 million, Matt Murray in 2016 at $3.75 million, and Justin Schultz in 2017 at $5.5 million. Extensions that Rutherford signed that are still on the team include Jake Guentzel at $6 million, Bryan Rust at $3.5 million and recently John Marino at $4.4 million. Although he did not necessarily draft every player, Rutherford signed players such as Conor Sheary, Brian Dumoulin, Teddy Blueger, Rust, Guentzel and Murray to their entry-level contract deals as well.

However, forever dooming Jim Rutherford’s legacy will be his acquisitions of unstable defenseman. Jack Johnson tops this list as in 2018 he was signed to a five-year deal at $3.25 million which in 2020 was bought out. Matt Hunwick and Cody Ceci are other questionable defenseman brought in by Rutherford via free agency.

Best Signing: Taking a chance on Matt Cullen in 2016 and 2017
Worst Signing: The entire Jack Johnson fiasco that ended in a buyout

Jim Rutherford Draft Picks: Nothing Here

In 2014 the Penguins drafted Kasperi Kapanen but then traded him in the Kessel deal. In 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021 the Penguins did not have a first-round selection. The draft picks that were actually able to get drafted by the Penguins such as Calen Addison, Filip Hallander and Fillip Gustavsson were all traded as well.

There are only five players that have been drafted in Jim Rutherford’s entire time as the Penguins GM that have played for the Penguins. Dominik Simon (173 games), Sam Lafferty (53 games), Daniel Sprong (42 games) and Anthony Angello (8 games). The outlier here is Kasperi Kapanen who was drafted by Rutherford, traded in the Kessel trade and then brought back at the expense of another first-round pick.

The young players that came through the Penguins organization in Rutherford’s tenure were either players that were drafted by previous GM Ray Shero, or brought in in free agency. Guentzel, Rust, Blueger, Dumoulin, Murray and Jarry were all Shero draft picks that found their way into the NHL well after Shero was gone.

There is hope for the future though with 2019 draft picks Samuel Poulin and Nathan Legare. Both are highly regarded prospects for the Pens and now are teammates with Val-d’Or in the QMJHL. Rutherford and current general manager Patrick Allvin are high on both picks, even trading up to draft Legare in the third-round. Hopeful they can make the team in the next couple of years.

Best draft pick: Samuel Poulin (2019)
Worst draft pick: The ones he traded away which became… Mat Barzal (2015), Sam Steel (2016), Klim Kostin (2017), K’Andre Miller (2018) Rodion Amirov (2020).

Jim Rutherford: Lucky guy or genius GM?

Jim Rutherford liked to get his players via trade or from the AHL. Very rarely in his tenure did Rutherford wait for players to develop. He was focused on getting as many good players in the lineup with Crosby and Malkin that he could. That worked with guys such as Kessel and got the Penguins two Stanley Cups. However, the Penguins currently have tumbleweed in terms of prospects because of this.

The reason Rutherford left may never be revealed to us. But that does not matter. The Penguins were blessed to have one of the greatest builders in hockey history as a part of the organization. While some of his trades were shots in the dark that he lucked out on, Rutherford still has his name on the Stanley Cup three times.

From all of us here in Pittsburgh, we thank Jim Rutherford and everything he has done for the organization and wish the best for him and his family.

The post Looking at Jim Rutherford’s time with the Pittsburgh Penguins appeared first on Pittsburgh Sports Castle.



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