Report: Penguins zeroing in on GM hire

Jim Rutherford shocked the hockey world last week when he abruptly and unceremoniously announced that he was resigning from his position as the Pittsburgh Penguins' general manager. Rutherford, a Hall of Famer, is the architect of two Stanley Cup championships with the Penguins but reportedly ran into disagreements with the team's executive staff regarding roster moves. Specifically it was reported that Rutherford ran into some difficulty trying to trade long-time Pens blueliner Kris Letang.

In any case, Rutherford is out and interim GM Patrik Allvin is now firmly on the hot seat. The Penguins need to make some moves and they need to make them quickly. Will Allvin be the man who pulls the trigger or will the Pens make another hire before making any roster moves?

According to Sean Gentile of The Athletic, the Penguins have set their sights on New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald. The problem there of course is that Fitzgerald is... you know... GM of the Devils. The guy has a GM job in the NHL already, so it's not likely that the Devils will make him available to interview for the job BUT his contract does end at the conclusion of this season. If Fitzgerald isn't in the Devils' long-term plans, might they let him move on with the Penguins?

Of course, the Penguins have a history with Fitzgerald and could do a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" agreement but it's clear that they have no interest in getting themselves into any tampering issues with the NHL following the Arizona Coyotes' scandal.

From Gentile:

Whether the Penguins can reel in Fitzgerald is an open question, and it all hinges on the idea that he’d rather work for Pittsburgh than New Jersey. That alone is unknown, as is whether the Devils would allow him to interview at all; the Penguins have no interest in violating tampering rules, and the Devils seem to have recent experience there, based on reports surrounding the John Chayka debacle.

Throw in the fact that the Penguins are trying to get this done sooner rather than later, and that the trade deadline is a couple of months before Fitzgerald would be free to talk to them on his own, and the degree of difficulty becomes a little steeper. That said, the appeal and the fit are both obvious, and the process would get a lot simpler if the Devils or Fitzgerald turn out to be uninterested in extending their relationship past July.

The ball seems to be firmly in the Devils' court. Things could get interesting.