Pen GM quits for ‘personal reasons’
Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford, a Hockey Hall of Famer who helped lead the team to a pair of Stanley Cup titles, resigned abruptly on Wednesday.
The 71-year-old Rutherford cited “personal reasons” in making the decision. He was under contract through the 2021-22 season.
The club promoted assistant general manager Patrick Allvin to serve as general manager on an interim basis while the club searches for a permanent replacement.
Rutherford arrived in Pittsburgh in the summer of 2014 following the team’s second-round flameout against the New York Rangers.
Following an uneven first season in which the Penguins made little headway under head coach Mike Johnston, Rutherford’s rebuild picked up steam in 2015 when he replaced Johnston with Mike Sullivan and created a roster around stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin built on speed.
The Penguins won consecutive Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, the first team in a generation to successfully defend its championship. Rutherford’s resignation comes with Pittsburgh off to a solid 4-2-1 start.
“It has been a great honour to serve as general manager of the Penguins, and to hang two more Stanley Cup banners at PPG Paints Arena,” Rutherford said in a statement.
Morehouse, the Penguins president and CEO, called Rutherford, a journeyman goaltender during his 13-year NHL career before becoming one of the most successful executives of the 21st century “an amazing representative of the Pittsburgh Penguins and he’ll always have a special place in our team’s history, his own legacy.”