PITTSBURGH — The Penguins are about to dive into some rarely swum waters.
Friday will mark three weeks since a sweeping change atop the department began a search for new hockey operations leadership. If that search enters the weekend, the Penguins will have gone longer without a general manager than they have since the end of Sidney Crosby’s rookie season.
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That was 2006, when the Penguins’ search for Craig Patrick’s replacement lasted a little over one month.
Then, as is the case during this search, the Penguins had not qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Back then, though, the search was led by an experienced hockey executive — Ken Sawyer. Now, the search is being spearheaded by one of the team’s alternate governors, Dave Beeston, and president of business operations, Kevin Acklin. Neither man has as deep of NHL connections as Sawyer, who was the NHL’s chief financial advisor before joining the Penguins after Mario Lemieux’s ownership group purchased the franchise from bankruptcy in 1999.
Lemieux’s group no longer owns the Penguins, having sold to Fenway Sports Group (FSG) midway through the 2021-22 season. And although GM searches generally follow the same pattern — candidates are identified, interviewed, and a winner emerges from a small selection of finalists — the Penguins, under FSG’s helm, have kept a tight lid on all aspects of the current process.
That is by design.
The Penguins’ stance is not to publicly comment on the process. The Athletic has learned that only a small group of people — one that includes Beeston, Acklin and coach Mike Sullivan — know where the search stands.
It’s unclear, however, if they plan to hire just a GM who will oversee hockey operations, both a GM and a president of hockey operations, both a GM and a senior advisor or any combination of the positions. It’s also unclear whether there’s a timeframe for the hire or hires. On April 14, after the Penguins fired Ron Hextall (GM), Chris Pryor (assistant GM) and Brian Burke (president of hockey operations), Beeston said they’d like to have their leadership team hired “as soon as possible without rushing it.”
Teams rarely enter the NHL Draft — this year in Nashville on June 28-29 — without a GM.
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Beeston and Acklin could be leaning on Sullivan, who is signed for another four seasons after an extension last August and who has more NHL connections than any current team employee. Sullivan has the respect of FSG’s top officers, including Beeston and fellow Penguins alternate governor Sam Kennedy, in addition to FSG owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner.
FSG is a Boston-based sports and entertainment conglomerate. Sullivan is a native of Marshfield, Mass.
Even if he is involved early in the process, Sullivan is not expected to have a final say in the selection of new hockey operations leadership.
Given its relative newness to the NHL, it’s probable that FSG is using the search as an opportunity to educate itself on the inner workings of the league and the greater hockey community. FSG is experienced in sports as the owner of the Boston Red Sox (MLB) and Liverpool Football Club (Premier League), but the company has owned the Penguins for less than two years.
FSG is known for relying heavily on processes and analytics. If that sounds as though so-called old-school former GMs need not apply — well, it would probably depend on the candidate. Anybody who is not keen to work with multiple assistant GMs and a larger-sized analytics staff probably would not appeal to FSG.
Still, because FSG has done such a good job at preventing public leaks, it’s very much a mystery within the NHL community as to who is on its list or has been contacted, let alone potentially interviewed.
The public quietness of this process differs from the past three GM searches conducted by the Penguins, who have had only four general managers since Patrick was hired in December 1989.
Recent Penguins' GM searches
GM
| Search dates
|
|---|---|
Ron Hextall | Jan. 27-Feb. 9, 2021 |
Jim Rutherford | May 16-June 6, 2014 |
Ray Shero | April 21-May 25, 2006 |
Ray Shero emerged from a group of assistant GMs to win the vacancy created when Patrick’s contract was not renewed after the 2005-06 season. He and Peter Chiarelli were reported to be co-finalists for the Penguins’ opening. Chiarelli was announced as GM of the Boston Bruins a day after Shero took over the Penguins in 2006.
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The Penguins had completed two postseason rounds when Shero was fired in May 2014. The search for his replacement was helmed by then CEO/president David Morehouse, who said he considered more than 20 potential replacements before settling on Jim Rutherford three weeks later. Television analyst Pierre McGuire and current Lightning GM Julien Brisebois were reported finalists along with Rutherford, who had recently finished a long tenure running the Carolina Hurricanes when he was hired in June 2014.
There was an urgency to replace Shero because his successor would determine the fate of then-coach Dan Bylsma. If Bylsma was to be replaced, which he was, Shero’s successor would need to quickly move in hiring a new coach from a shallow pool of candidates before the NHL Draft. Rutherford’s muddled coaching search ended with the hiring of Mike Johnston only a few days before the 2014 NHL Draft.
Rutherford’s resignation only a couple weeks into the 2021-22 season — shortened to 56 games amid the COVID-19 pandemic — caught everybody within the Penguins by surprise. Even more surprising was the speed with which Morehouse settled on Hextall and Burke, whom Morehouse said advised on the process and pushed for Hextall. Morehouse also said Lemieux recommended hiring Burke in a newly created role, president of hockey operations.
Lasting only a couple of weeks, the Penguins’ GM search that resulted in the Hextall/Burke tandem reportedly included current New York Rangers GM Chris Drury, current Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland and TV analyst Kevin Weekes as candidates.
As you can see, a lot of names have been attached to the last three Penguins’ GM searches.
With new owners, the current search could indeed feature a large pool of candidates. But whoever is swimming in those waters, the Penguins are doing well to keep them from surfacing.
(Photo of Ron Hextall: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
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