Rutherford is no stranger to the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. The former NHL goalie played 3 seasons for the Penguins in the early 70s after being drafted in the 1st round of the 1969 draft by the Detroit Red Wings. For the last twenty seasons, Rutherford has been a part owner and the general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes (and Hartford Whalers before that). He is the man responsible for drafting the likes of Eric Staal, Cam Ward, Andrew Ladd and current Penguin Craig Adams, and the man who signed greats like Rod Brind'Amour, Justin Williams and Mark Recchi that won the Stanley Cup in 2006.
However, the Canes have not regained that 2006 form. Their best season since then was 2008-09 when they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals before being swept by the Pens en route to our third Stanley Cup championship. The Hurricanes have struggled mightily in recent years, and he was relieved of duties earlier this year.
I am skeptical of this hire. Rutherford has good credentials: he was a general manager for 20 years with one organization (but he owned part of it for many years), he won a Stanley Cup (but has failed to build consistently competitive teams) and has drafted some very good talent (but hasn't developed them as much as you'd like). That all sounds good, I know. He's got the Cup, he's a good drafter, he is experienced. But I don't like what he's done the last few years with Carolina. He traded Brandon Sutter, Jussi Jokinen, Brian Dumoulin and Derrick Pouliot for Jordan Staal. Staal has yet to find his place in Carolina while Sutter and Jokinen were important cogs in the last two Pens teams. He signed Staal to a ridiculous 10 year, 6 million per contract and also signed guys like Alexander Semin and Ron Hainsey who have been incredibly underwhelming in Carolina.
Granted, he's coming to a team with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but there are a lot of questions that still remain. What does he do with Dan Bylsma? Who does he hire to replace Bylsma if he lets him go? (Jacques Martin just interviewed for the Carolina job and Barry Trotz signed with Washington 10 days ago). What does he do with the cap situation? Does he trade Letang, Neal or Fleury? Can he resign guys like Niskanen, Sutter or Jokinen (especially since he traded the last two in Carolina)? Can he make better decisions in regards to signing free agents here than he did in Carolina? I don't want any Alex Semin deals here. Can he draft better and successfully develop prospects than he did in Carolina? He won't have the luxury of multiple lottery picks in Pittsburgh (knock on wood).
A lot of talk is about his prowess in the draft. He has drafted some solid players and has done a much better job than Ray Shero. He has drafted the likes of Eric Staal, Cam Ward, Andrew Ladd, Craig Adams, Jeff Skinner, Jack Johnson (all of which are established NHL players). But look at where they were drafting these last 8 years: 3rd in 2005, no pick in 2006, 11th in 2007, 14th in 2008, 27th in 2009, 7th in 2010, 12th in 2011, 8th before trading the pick to us in 2012 and 5th last year. He has gotten 13 of 49 draft picks to the NHL since 2006 (Shero's first draft as Pens GM). That's a 26% success rate, only 4 points higher than the Pens in that span (Pens 22% in that time). That's not that impressive, especially since the majority of those picks were lottery selections.
Only time will tell whether or not this is the right hire for the Penguins organization. Right now, I am not overly pleased with the pick. That being said, I hope Rutherford makes me eat crow.