Jim Rutherford: Last Few Weeks Have Been 'Very Hard On Me'
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan)- Pittsburgh Penguins General Manager Jim Rutherford joined "The Cook and Poni Show" Tuesday morning following the club's 5-2 win over Columbus. It was the first win for new head coach Mike Sullivan, but Rutherford said that it's been a difficult few weeks, personally.
"It's been a trying time. It's a stressful job as it is for me under normal circumstances, but when the team underachieves, especially when I feel so strong about how well this team can do, it's been very hard on me," Rutherford said.
Rutherford was asked about the play of Sidney Crosby.
"I think right from the start of the season Sid tried to be more of a complete player, a two-way player, which he's done a good job with. Yeah, his production has dropped off, but it doesn't mean that that can't come back. Part of the reason his production has dropped off is our power play hasn't worked the way it should," Rutherford said. "Of course, we expect more from Sid, as a team we expect more production from him, but I don't believe that his game has dropped as much as he gets criticized for."
Rutherford explained why he selected Sullivan to replace Mike Johnston.
"The thing that Mike Sullivan has is he has experience. He got off to a very good start in Wilkes-Barre. He knows the organization as far as what players are doing well in the minors system and guys that can come in and help our team. And he has a real good presence. You know, he's a guy that is not going to put up with anything, he holds guys accountable, and it's something that I felt we needed at the time," Rutherford said.
Rutherford is confident that this team can turn things around and get themselves back into the playoff mix.
"I believe we have enough players here, enough good players, that we can contend. We've got ourselves in a hole, we've got to get our work boots on and get ourselves out. We played like a team (Monday) night. We play like that, we can get ourselves out of the hole and be right back in the mix sometime by the end of January," Rutherford said.
To listen to the entire conversation, click here: http://cbsloc.al/1ZnvkXg
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