Shortly after the Penguins announced the firing of Jason Karmanos and the temporary promotion to Sam Ventura the team also announced another hiring, Trevor Daley.

The Penguins have added Trevor Daley as a Hockey Operations Advisor.

Full details: https://t.co/ghPfX6hTaz pic.twitter.com/Ed5zcoacIk

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 26, 2020

I don’t have strong feelings one way or another on this. I think the practice of hiring a former player for these roles is quite widespread around the league and I don’t believe the Penguins are unique enough to not also go down this road. I don’t know Daley’s individual skill set and strengths for a position like this. We’ll all be learning at the same time.

The rumors about another potential hire are a lot more problematic

A surprise firing continued a busy offseason for Jim Rutherford. But he may soon be getting help from a former GM. (Just not the one most might guess.) Read about it here.#Pens | ⁦@TheAthleticPGH⁩ https://t.co/dBZdtLu2fz

— Rob Rossi (@Real_RobRossi) October 27, 2020

One team source said Rutherford is adamant about “not getting ahead” of himself until he has completed his internal review. Word around the league is that Rutherford — with the backing of, if not urging from, CEO/president David Morehouse and majority co-owners Ron Burkle and Mario Lemieux — will be “making changes to bring in new views and experience.”

OK, the team does need some new views and experience. I could see Trevor Daley being part of that.

Dale Tallon has emerged as a candidate to join the Penguins in some capacity, multiple team and league sources said. A former GM with Chicago and Florida (more recently), Tallon was the primary architect of the Blackhawks’ 2010 Cup club, though he had been demoted from GM to a senior advisor about a year before Chicago’s title run.

Tallon, 70, is only 16 months younger than Rutherford. In addition to being longtime friends and peers, Tallon and Rutherford share ties to the Penguins as former players. Another factor working in Tallon’s favor for a potential role with the Penguins is his good standing with Lemieux, a team and league source said.

Oh no.

This is not going to dig the team out of the ditch of being top heavy with overpriced depth players. Dale Tallon has shown a brazen disregard for anything remotely looking like modern hockey analysis. His results in Florida speak for themselves. The “making changes to bring in new views and experience” falls flat with Tallon’s name even being mentioned in a rumor.

This would be another embarrassing self-own by the Penguins because as bad as Tallon has been as a GM he’s not exactly doing great as a citizen, either.

NHL investigating ex-Blackhawks GM Dale Tallon for alleged racist comments:https://t.co/gJuWOHBlj0

— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) August 28, 2020

Hatred and discrimination have no place in Pittsburgh or anywhere else.

Today and every day, we are #StrongerThanHate. https://t.co/2da7ELexFN

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 27, 2020

“Hockey is for everyone!”

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