Jim Rutherford talked for an extended period of time today on Pittsburgh's 93.7 The Fan and gave a lot of interesting nuggets.
You can find the audio to the interview broken up into different pieces
here
Special thanks goes to
@kikkerlaika for translating a lion's share of the interview. I took her translations and typed them out so it is easier to read on this website. I also translated a few passages myself.
Here are some of the highlights of that interview.
This isn't a shocker and helps explain the Matt Cullen signing.
On if there is enough grit on the blue line:
It depends on how you structure your team. Teams that were in the Final - Chicago and Tampa... you look at Detroit over the years. They don't play with a lot of grit. They play with a lot of skill. So, to answer your question: no, there is not a lot of grit on our blue line. But we improved the skill. You gotta go get the puck, and you gotta move it. That is the best way to play defense.
This is clearly a step in the right direction. Pittsburgh couldn't get enough of unskilled grit on their blue line for years and the only time it worked was when Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were scoring the most points in the playoffs since Lemieux and Gretzky. That isn't a sustainable business model.
On injury prevention:
What Andy O'Brien is gonna do, over the course of this year and future years, is look at the science of sports injuries. And he is gonna travel, he is gonna go and talk to different people - this is something that they are doing in Europe in soccer now - and so, we are trying to get ahead of the curve. I'm not sure any of this makes a difference when you are dealing with mumps, and things like that [laughs]."
Something had to give on this front. Pittsburgh had to change things up as they have been the most injured team in hockey the past few years and it hasn't even been close.
Is Plotnikov going to play a vital part on this team?:
He could. He certainlyi should be one of our top 9 forwards. He may even catch that spot with Malkin - him, Malkin, and Hornqvist. Plotnikov... I can't say enough about him. This is a player from Russia. He does not speak any other language than Russian. He had one year left on his contract in the KHL. He paid 500k out of his own pocket to get out of that contract a year early - coulda waited a year and come over next year - and then, he tells us he is coming over the first part of August with his wife to get used to this market. And what more can you ask from a guy. He is out skating with the Penguins now, getting to know his new teammates. This is certainly a guy who has great character.
I think Sergei Plotnikov is doing all the right things to better prepare himself for life in the NHL. However, this should not come into play when allocating his role on the team. Performance is the only variable that needs to be used.
On Crosby:
I'm just so impressed with how he handles all situations. He is our captain, he is a very good captain - I though he was a really good leader last year. He continues to do things this summer that I'm impressed with. And then as far as dealing with all the people - he does a terrific job with it. You know, he tries to get to as many people as he can, (...) Pittsburgh is very fortunate to have Sidney Crosby.
Nothing surprising here. Sidney can never be complimented enough.
On Hornqvist and Malkin:
I think that if you go back to the early part of last year when Hornqvist played with Malkin they had very good chemistry and I think there was a little disappointment by Geno when he lost Hornqvist. So at least now we've got those two right wingers that we should have some stability there where the coach can go in two's and gets his two guys together if it ends up staying with Kessel and Crosby then Geno gets his good right winger with Hornqvist.
Makes sense to me. Whether it is Sid and Kessel or Sid and Hornqvist the Penguins have to legitimate top six right wingers and each center will get the most out of them. Great situation for Pittsburgh and their two star centers
On Sergei Gonchar:
Well we're gonna give Sergei a really good shot at making it. I've got to know him a little bit now I had lunch with him at the draft when I was in Florida. I've heard all the stories with him the year when they won the Cup and there are some things that he can bring to the Penguins that we need. He's got great leadership and he can help younger players. I'm not suggesting that if he signs a contract he's gonna play 82 games and 20 minutes a game. I think at this point in his career the coach has to manage the amount of games he plays and how many minutes. But if he can do well in the preseason and show that he can keep the pace then he's gonna have a good chance to catch a spot.
A lot of what Jim Rutherford is saying here can be accomplished by somebody who is in a coaching role.
To make a baseball comparison it looks as though Gonchar will benefit from the "a tie goes to the runner" mentality which isn't good news if you are Brian Dumoulin, Tim Erixon, or Adam Clendening. If Rob Scuderi wasn't already burning up a roster spot I would have less reservations about Gonchar as a seventh defenseman.
On Beau Bennett:
I'm not totally sure, but one thing i know he has a high skill level and is continuing to mature over the years. He was a young guy who came in and really had some misfortune, ya know? When he'd get going a little bit he would get injured and he's had a lot of bad luck. So he's still a young guy trying to figure out his game. He's not going to be put in a pressure situation to start off because we have a lot of depth at forward, but if he comes to camp and gets it going the way I feel he is capable of then he can end up playing in the top six. But the expectations for him are not as high this year. He's not going to be pushed. We are going to try and take some pressure off of him and if he stays healthy he can turn into a really good player.
Beau Bennett on the fourth line just means the Penguins have great forward depth (they do). Put him in a position to succeed and if healthy he will probably start to earn more quality playing time.
On Phil Kessel:
He has so much natural ability and guys that work a lot harder than him can take the same tests and he'll (Phil) will blow right by them and it is just natural. He did go to Gary Roberts and he did work very hard at it Gary tells me he is in the best shape he's been in about 7 or 8 years or maybe even his career and I give Phil a lot of credit, he's the one that decided to go there and he worked on it.
Phil Kessel is going to have a monster season on Sidney Crosby's wing. People caught up with Phil Kessel's physique are childish.
On analytics:
Well, you have to change with the times and if you don't you get left behind. The one thing that I have done over my career is I've hired a lot of good people to work with me especially guys a lot younger just coming into the game. In Carolina I hired Rod Brind'Amour and Ron Francis, guys like that that just retired as players. Here (in Pittsburgh) I'm fortunate that I have guys like Jason Botterill, Billy Guerin, and Jason Karmonas, Mark Recchi, guys that just moved out of the game. And I really believe in the analytics part of it. I don't make my final decisions based on analytics. But certainly when I'm hearing from the guys that are watching the games telling me one thing about a player and the analytics are saying something else we have some real serious conversations and good debates on which way we need to go.
Actions speak louder than words. The actions of Pittsburgh's offseason point to analytics being a more prominent part of their decision making process and there is really no arguing against that. No longer will the entire success of the team fall on Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. They finally have the help that they need/deserve.
Thanks for reading!
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