The Pittsburgh Penguins are in for a busy offseason, replacing key front-office fixtures after missing the playoffs for the first time in almost two decades. In addition to yesterday’s reporting on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ intention to hire two separate people for the roles of general manager and president of hockey operations, The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun expanded in detail today on the current status of Pittsburgh’s search to fill their vacant roles.
LeBrun relayed previously corroborated reports from league sources that the Penguins have conducted initial Zoom interviews with potential candidates for the general manager role, with this number set at around a dozen. From this group, Pittsburgh has begun the process of narrowing down individuals for in-person second-round interviews for the job.
LeBrun has now confirmed seven individuals who were part of that complement of about 12. Among them is Los Angeles Kings senior advisor Marc Bergevin, Carolina Hurricanes assistant general manager Eric Tulsky, St. Louis Blues VP of hockey operations Peter Chiarelli, Buffalo Sabres associate general manager Jason Karmanos, and three members of the New Jersey Devils organization: senior vice president and assistant general manager Dan MacKinnon, assistant general manager Kate Madigan, and director of player development Meghan Duggan. There are two other likely candidates that LeBrun could not confirm, Tampa Bay Lightning assistant general manager Mathieu Darche and Seattle Kraken assistant general manager Jason Botterill, who previously held the same role with Pittsburgh.
Some candidates from the first round of interviews were informed today that they are no longer being considered for the positions, LeBrun said.
Also in line with previous reporting, LeBrun mentioned the Penguins expressed interest in including Brad Treliving, the former general manager of the Calgary Flames, in their first round of interviews. However, the Flames denied permission, given Treliving’s expiring contract with the team legally expires on June 30.
As for a president of hockey operations, LeBrun also linked the Penguins to former Arizona Coyotes general manager John Chayka. Chayka held his post with the Coyotes from May 2016 to July 2020, when he abruptly resigned before the start of the delayed Stanley Cup Playoffs. The NHL later suspended Chayka from working in the league for the entire 2021 calendar year after he pursued other league opportunities while still under contract with Arizona. It also later came to light that, under Chayka, the Coyotes had held an illegal private scouting combine for eligible draft prospects in direct violation of league rules, resulting in multiple pick forfeitures for Arizona.
Surprisingly, the reason for the uncertainty about Chayka’s potential involvement with the Penguins isn’t due to his concerning NHL history – rather, LeBrun reports Chayka could have additional NHL opportunities available to him outside of Pittsburgh.
Bergevin and Chiarelli should be nowhere near an NHL front office.
Chiarelli achieved far more and did not leave the franchise in a complete mess. The Habs thanks to the idiot Bergevin for the second year in a row led the league in payroll even though this year they had 7-8 players being paid the league minimum. The present administration is totally hamstrung by Bergevin’s gross incompetence. The Bruins have remained competitive every year since Chiarelli.
I agree with C-Daddy 1000 percent. Is it NHL law now that women have to be interviewed? And are these women aware that they are just being patronized? I shouldn’t be surprised the NHL like all the other major league sports are really good at pandering.
Wilf, it is not a law. Not all teams do this but some do. Don’t be offended. Females have obviously avoided you and this has scarred you, seemingly for life. Take this, and your chronically incorrect takes on hockey, and go take a nap.
Wilf is correct here. I’m sure the ladies are fine people and smart as well, but even they know they were hired for virtue signaling reasons.
As opposed to the toxic masculinity of those opposed to seeing women in any role in sports that doesn’t involve a cheerleader uniform?
Yeah, like every player on every team in the NHL, AHL and ECHL. If masculinity bothers you, you may be watching the wrong sport.
Sweetheart, women will be in leading management positions in the NHL within my lifetime. None of them will be “virtue signalling” appointments.
Women now have a professional, North American hockey league in the PHF (Go Buets), and it’s only a matter of time before the back office talent pool bleeds over between the two leagues. Never mind the many talented women already in the NHL.
And comparing women’s league hockey to professional men’s hockey is apples to oranges. Two very different games with distinct differences between those who play it.
So you’re saying that since they are women, there’s no way that they can grasp the needs of an NHL team.
The NFL, NBA and MLB all now have women in positions of authority, from coaching to officiating to front office, but in your way of thinking, hockey is ultra-masculine and simply off limits to the involvement of women
Ok. Sure.
This reminds me of the Verizon commercial where the selling point is “everybody bundles, why aren’t you bundling?”.
I wouldn’t for a moment presume that I could build a women’s team roster. I don’t understand the lockeroom dynamics and all the other intangibles of the women’s game. This isn’t a fantasy league team that any of us here at PHR could put together. There’s a whole lot more that goes into it.
Yikes! Came here to knock the thought of Bergevin and Chiarelli being hired but looks like someone called the woke police instead. So uh yeah please don’t hire either one of those guys…