The fallout from being swept by the New York Islanders is something that is going to play out the entire offseson. The roster moves are on hold at the moment, but the comments aren’t. Jim Rutherford continues to provide quotes for consumption. This time he spoke with Josh Yohe of The Athletic
The general manager was asked specifically if Evgeni Malkin, 32, is part of the team’s long-term plans
“I’m not at the point where I’m making any decision on that at this point,” he explained. “I just can’t answer that kind of question right now.”
Why?
“There are a lot of things to sort through right now,” he said.
Yeah, so there aren’t that many things to sort through to say Evgeni Malkin is part of the long-term plans. From both the logic standpoint of Pittsburgh being better for having him and also the logic of not fanning rumors about a Penguins legend. There’s not tactical advantage to speaking like this.
It doesn’t seem like the biggest Penguins legend of them all is enamored with the idea of Malkin playing elsewhere.
A source close to Mario Lemieux told The Athletic on Thursday that Lemieux is adamant about wanting Malkin to finish his NHL career with the Penguins and that ownership has no interest in approaching Malkin about waving his full no-trade clause. Lemieux is still troubled by trading Jaromir Jagr in 2001 and doesn’t want history to repeat itself with another franchise icon.
Yeah, obviously. Maybe the general manager could craft his comments more carefully when talking about one of the franchise’s all-time greats. It also sounds like the owners and general manager need to have a sit down about getting on the same page or at the very least what is said out in the open. Every year the Penguins don’t win the Stanley Cup it’s always Malkin who has to deal with the nonsense.
What is the purpose of leaking the following?
It’s very clear that signs of insubordination were evident. In November, Malkin miffed Mike Sullivan when he was criticized by the head coach during a team video session. Sullivan commented that no forwards were visible on the television screen when Chad Ruhwedel was trapped in a corner. Malkin responded, “He’s in the NHL. He can skate it out.”
Numerous sources have said in recent days that some of the Penguins’ bigger names were more difficult to coach than usual this season.
This is obviously out there to pain Malkin in a negative light. To what end? What is the purpose? Is he not allowed to ever be frustrated? Has it occurred to people that Malkin is not a moron and can see Sidney Crosby gets the Dumoulin-Letang treatment every single game and with that comes distinct advantages? Not getting the prime deployment has drastic consequences with how this roster is constructed. I know if I was a star center it would get old playing with the plugs on the back end every game. It would get old being leaned on to do all the heavy lifting of zone entries and exits.
Being more difficult to coach isn’t always a negative on the player. Sometimes coaches aren’t doing their jobs well. I personally think Mike Sullivan had a below average season behind the bench. You don’t think great NHL players know as much as a former grinder about the sport? They can see these errors. What is their recourse? They don’t want to publicly air their grievances against the coach because hockey culture hates that and players are demonized when it happens. They shouldn’t be expected to just wear a smile the whole year. Sometimes the frustration might come out in a random Tuesday video session. So what? The bigger problem is purposely leaking the information publicly to intentionally sully a team legend. Again, to what end?
The more that comes out the more you see a lack of direction from the decision maker
“It was certainly a tough season for me personally,” he said. “I could see the issues fairly early on. And I think it was pretty obvious when I move a guy (Carl Hagelin) that I know everybody really likes and who has had so much success. It was pretty obvious what my mindset was. After what I saw in the first few weeks of the season, I knew I had to do something pretty major to get their attention.”
“Getting their attention” You got it alright. I’m sure the team hasn’t forgotten how a well-liked player with speed was traded for the sake of being traded. Moved for a player who flamed out within a few months. Then the repalcement player was flipped for a defenseman who doesn’t complement the forwards at all. It’s OK to trade a well-liked player. That alone isn’t the issue. The problem was it was done just to do “something”. The resulting sequence of transactions is evidence there was no real plan. Players aren’t stupid. They saw a great teammate who played with speed moved away for pieces that didn’t help the Penguins get any closer to a Stanley Cup. That’s going to piss players off. That is understandable.
Rutherford continued to stoke the flames of drama
“Personally,” Rutherford said, “I believe this was the best coaching job Mike Sullivan has done since he’s been with the Penguins. The dynamic of the team this season, it was difficult for him to deal with. This team never came together. It just never did. I don’t want to get into all of the details. But Mike had to deal with a lot of different circumstances this year. He had to keep things under control. It’s impressive that he still pulled off a 100-point season.”
Reading between the lines, it sounds like there was plenty of drama behind closed doors.
“I don’t want to get into that stuff,” Rutherford said. “Whatever way you want to phrase it. I wouldn’t get into that stuff, what was going on.”
Whatever the dynamic of this team was in 2018-19 is on you, Mr. General Manager. The more words that are spoken the more it looks like the GM and coach do not consult each other at all on what their wants and needs are. What were these different circumstances? Because if you are just going to vaguely reference them in public, but not provide detail, why not just keep things to yourself? Why release this information in public?
The answer is this is a concerted effort to totally shift the blame to the players. He cranked the difficulty up on his coach and he’s going to let the players take the fall for the roster and the poor deployment. This is all PR spin by the general manager to not take any ownership of the failed season. The number one problem with the Penguins in 2018-19 was Jim Rutherford, full stop. This is his creation. The major players he is throwing under the bus, specifically or vaguely, were all here before him and were successful before and since. It’s Rutherford’s tweaks that have failed. He inherited a dream scenario when he was hired. No other general managers are gifted the kind of palette he got. .
The more Rutherford speaks this offseason the more he shows his ass.
Thanks for reading!
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