Some newsworthy items to cover from the past few days

Matt Cullen will be joining the Penguins in a new capacity

After a 21-year career in the NHL, Matt Cullen has joined the Pittsburgh Penguins’ hockey operations department in a player development role.

Full details: https://t.co/jWylHzHogc pic.twitter.com/6REXF2Xkpl

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) August 1, 2019

There wasn’t even enough time for dust to settle on the cringy dad memes. Cullen is back in Pittsburgh. I have no issue with the actual hire. Cullen had a long and successful career and to have one of those you need to have applied wisdom. The only annoying thing with the hire is that the Sergei Gonchar theory is probably going to come along with this for many fans. Any underachieving forward the Penguins pick up now will be “rehabilitated” by Matt Cullen. It was an unfair and lame assumption placed on Gonchar. It will probably move along to Cullen. I have no doubt both Cullen and Gonchar have positive things to offer players in order to help them. However, they aren’t miracle workers and shouldn’t be treated as such.

It appears Bill Guerin is back on the Minnesota’s radar as a general manager candidate per Michael Russo of The Athletic

#mnwild’s search for a new GM begins with the interviews of Ron Hextall and Peter Chiarelli. But the process is in the very early stages and several more candidates will be interviewed. STORY>>> https://t.co/ZSANmlzsoJ

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) August 2, 2019

As of now, it’s not believed that the Wild have asked permission to speak with last year’s runner-up, New Jersey Devils assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald, Pittsburgh Penguins assistant GM Bill Guerin or Columbus Blue Jackets assistant GM Bill Zito.
But the Wild interviewed all three last offseason and it’s very likely they will reach out again.

Guerin has been the general manager of the Baby Penguins for the past two seasons and things are trending down as far as the on-ice product goes. Rochester is trending back up. Coincidence?



I’m not so sure Guerin is on the progressive side of things in player analysis. When Rutherford eventually retires and leaves the team in shambles the Penguins are going to need somebody who is well versed in all areas of analysis and forward thinking with roster construction. I don’t see Guerin fitting that description. If Minnesota were to pry Guerin away from the Penguins I don’t see it as big of a loss as Jason Botterill was to the organization.

Thanks for reading!

Join the Discussion: » 66 Comments » Post New Comment

» Penguins news and notes

» Getting your Penguins fix

» My thoughts on Penguins thoughts

» It's their fault

» Still alive, for now