Big news out of Pittsburgh this morning:
After moving from General Manager to President of the Carolina Hurricanes earlier this summer, Jim Rutherford has now jumped ship to become the new GM of the Penguins. That's a bit of a surprise to me, since he'd been with the Hartford Whalers/Hurricanes organization for more than 20 years and overseen two trips to the Stanley Cup, including one win. I assumed that he was on board with his move up the ranks when Ron Francis stepped in as general manager, but I guess Rutherford's still interested in new challenges at age 65.
The Penguins have also promoted Jason Botterill to Associate GM, so it sounds like Rutherford's role in Pittsburgh will be that of a short-term elder statesman who can help to bring Botterill along.
The fallout: coach Dan Bylsma has been fired. As expected, the new GM will want to bring in his own man, so Bylsma was indeed handcuffed for the last three weeks or so—while Washington filled their coaching vacancy.
There was plenty of talk when the Penguins were eliminated about Bylsma being a potentially good fit in Vancouver, so I could see that situation coming back into play.
Though Team USA disappointed in Sochi this year, Ryan Kesler was probably their best player. Kesler also had success with Bylsma and the Americans while winning the silver medal back in 2010. I'd think that Kesler would perk up at the prospect of Bylsma becoming the next Canucks coach, so that could count for something.
I have seen the talk about Marc Crawford being back in the running, but I can't bring myself to take that very seriously. As some of you have rightly pointed out, the Todd Bertuzzi lawsuit is finally scheduled to go to trial this fall, and Crawford is tangled up in that mess. It would be awkward at best if he was back on the Canucks payroll.
Also, despite the warm welcome back for Trevor Linden, I don't think Crawford inspires the same sort of warm fuzzies among Canucks fans. Like Jim Benning, Crawford is a former Canucks defenseman—he played for the team from 1981-1987, including the 1982 Cup run. But the Canucks only got to the second round once during Crawford's seven years as coach in Vancouver, and the Bertuzzi incident certainly overshadows the glory days of the West Coast Express in most fans' memories.
Jason Botchford reports that Crawford is in town today to MC a charity golf tournament in North Van. After the disastrous outcome of John Tortorella's minimal-practice approach, Crawford says he has rediscovered its value during his last two seasons coaching in Switzerland:
“I really rediscovered my coaching legs in terms of how we practice and how I taught,… Crawford said. “That was the best thing that ever could have happened to me. If I ever get the chance to coach (again in the NHL), I’m going to implement a lot of those things.…
Of course, Crawford's brother Eric is also still a key player in the Canucks' scouting department, so there's another present-day connection to the organization. Still, I'd be very surprised if anything comes out of this due to the legal situation.
What do you think? Should the Canucks continue to wait to interview Desjardins and Stevens, or should they pounce on a potentially hot candidate in Bylsma?