Penguins Fire Karmanos, Hire Daley in Front Office Shuffle

Given the turbulent nature of the current off-season, I guess nothing the Penguins do should surprise me. Still, I admit I was taken aback when I learned that Jim Rutherford had fired Jason Karmanos from his position as assistant general manager.

“We would like to thank Jason Karmanos for his contributions to the organization over the past six years,” Rutherford said in a brief statement. “I have been evaluating our hockey operations department, and this is the first part of the process to re-organize our group.”

Rutherford and the Karmanos family have ties dating back decades, when JR and Jason’s father, Peter Jr., ran the Detroit Compuware Ambassadors junior team. In 1994, JR and the senior Karmanos, along with Thomas Thewes, purchased the woebegone Hartford Whalers and spearheaded the eventual move to Carolina in 1997.

When Rutherford left the Hurricanes to accept the Pens’ GM post in 2014, he drew some heat from his old friend and associate. However, the criticism didn’t seem to affect the long-standing relationship between JR and the Karmanos family…Jason came along to serve as the Pens’ vice president of hockey operations with a focus on advanced stats. In June 2017, he was promoted to the post of assistant general manager, a position he held for the past three seasons.

On September 3, Jason interviewed for the Arizona Coyotes general manager job. It’s hard to imagine any ill-will sprang from the event…eight days later he was named general manager of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, a slot that will be filled on an interim basis by Erik Heasley.

However, earlier this month Rutherford hinted that he was contemplating a front office change. A rumination that became reality today.

In a related move, JR hired popular former Pens defenseman Trevor Daley to the position of hockey operations advisor. Daley will serve as an observer for the coaching staff during games and assist Rutherford in evaluating players at both the NHL and AHL levels.

Daley, whose acquisition in 2015 helped propel the team to back-to-back Stanley Cups, spent the past three seasons with Detroit. He announced his retirement prior to accepting the position, bringing to a close his 16-year NHL career.