Jim Rutherford finally explains why he left the Pittsburgh Penguins

Vancouver Canucks president Jim Rutherford has had a relatively low-key offseason following a pretty eventful first half season with his new team. Rutherford wasted little time making changes after being hired by the Canucks, hiring head coach Bruce Boudreau before he himself even arrived in Vancouver. Rutherford would then hire Patrik Alvin as the team's new GM. Alvin, of course, was Rutherford's protege from the pair's time with the Pittsburgh Penguins and was seen as a hot commodity on the GM free agent market.

Since then, Rutherford and Alvin have gone about transforming the Canucks much in the way they transformed the Penguins. They've shrewdly added assets without giving away any of their core pieces. They've re-signed Brock Boeser to a long term deal and are reportedly in negotiations with captain Bo Horvat on a long-term extension. We're still waiting for a conclusion to the ongoing J.T. Miller saga however, so I suspect that a classic Jim Rutherford blockbuster deal may be on the horizon. Who can forget Rutherford's giant deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs to acquire Phil Kessel? Many believe that that Kessel trade was ultimately put the Penguins over the top and led them to back to back Stanley Cup championships. 

Many people also believe that ultimately what led Rutherford to resign from the Penguins was the trade that sent Kessel to the Arizona Coyotes in a cap move when Rutherford himself preferred to deal one of Kris Letang or Evgeni Malkin. To Rutherford, the theory goes, Kessel was more valuable to the Penguins than either Letang or Malkin and that reportedly caused a rift between him and the rest of the front office staff. Within a year Rutherford would abruptly resign from his position and he's been relatively tight-lipped on the particulars surrounding his departure from Pittsburgh.

Now though, as a member of the Canucks, Rutherford is finally opening up and in a discussion with Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Rutherford claims that his departure had nothing to do with a rift in management, but rather he decided to step back mostly due to the strain that COVID-19 put on him.

From Mackey's column:

Jim Rutherford blamed the mental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason why he stepped down as general manager of the Penguins last year. Given his age, he and his family rarely left home once the pandemic started. Confined to his home office, Rutherford said it affected his “mental toughness”.

“I don’t want to suggest I had mental health issues,” Rutherford told Jason Mackey. “The way I would describe it is I wasn’t mentally as strong as I should have been to be myself and continue to do that job. I was starting to react to things differently than I normally would, which led to where I got to.”

Rutherford insisted his departure had nothing to do with former Penguins president/CEO Dave Morehouse, whom he was rumored to be clashing with. He remains complimentary of his time with the team, saying he was well-treated by everyone (including Morehouse) throughout his tenure with the club. He’s now the president of hockey operations for the Vancouver Canucks.