The Call Heard round The ‘burgh

Please pardon the interruption. After posting the second part of my State of the Penguins I saw a very interesting article from Dan Kingarski. According to Kingarski, a call precipitated the firings of Jacques Martin, Sergei Gonchar, and Mark Recchi. Accordingly, that call was between owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle and senior Penguins Management.

The first thing that struck me was the following quote;

“Our source, who was not on the call, paraphrased the conversation as the Penguins hockey operations were ‘allowed’ to keep head coach Mike Sullivan, but the others would not be back.”

The stress on the word ‘allowed’ was what caught my attention. Perhaps it is just my exaggerated ego searching for vindication, but those stress marks appear to me to be a sign that ownership is just as frustrated with Penguins operations as I am. Those stress marks to me would indicate that both Coach Mike Sullivan and even GM Jim Rutherford are on short leashes.

The article continues.

“The Pittsburgh Penguins ownership is not happy with the growing trend of playoff failure. The Penguins have deficit spent in each of the past two seasons and the flameouts not only caused embarrassment but cost the Penguins millions in revenue. Because of the lost revenue, sources told PHN this week there is a question if the Penguins will spend to the cap limit next season.”

This paragraph would seem to reinforce the idea that Sullivan is under the micro-scope for the wins and losses in the playoffs and Rutherford is joining him on the hot seat for wasting money on under-performing veterans.

The article also suggested that part of the problems the Penguins have suffered through were not due to the much-publicized Sullivan/Phil Kessel rift but potentially to a Recchi/Sidney Crosby rift.

“ For those not familiar, Recchi was one of the veterans who had a row with Crosby during Crosby’s rookie year and reportedly treated the rookie harshly. Veterans felt the new face of the NHL was immature. However, then head coach Eddie Olzyck firmly sided with Crosby. Olczyk confronted the veterans.”

Perhaps I did know this, maybe I have been on an extended senior moment, but honestly, I feel I am one of those to which Kingarski was referring as not being familiar with this story line.