This Saturday, June 12, was the fifth anniversary of the Penguins' fourth Stanley Cup win, when they defeated the Sharks in six games in the Final.
The 2015-16 season was marked with a flurry of personnel changes, including the acquisitions of Phil Kessel, Nick Bonino, Trevor Daley, Carl Hagelin and Justin Shultz in trades throughout the year. Mike Sullivan replaced Mike Johnston behind the bench mid-December after an underwhelming 15-10-3 start to the season. The season also included the emergence of Matt Murray, who made his NHL debut in December and took over as the starting goaltender for that playoff run.
Tom Reed, Dave Molinari and I spoke with Jim Rutherford for our 66 to 87 podcast last week to talk about his memories of that year, an interview that starts at the 36:55 mark of this episode:
Here is the full transcript of the interview with Rutherford:
Reed: What compelled you to make as many changes as you made that season? Not only in the offseason, but even during the course of the year, you kept making some changes here and there. Why did you think you needed to make as many changes as you did?
Rutherford: Well, coming off the prior year, you know, we just had 97 points, which was decent. But we just made the playoffs in the last game and it was my first year here. I learned more about the team and still felt that there had to be changes, you know, changes in the culture and a few things. I mean, it sounds kind of funny saying that, because when you're with a team with Crosby and Malkin, Letang, and Fleury and these guys, it sounds kind of odd, because they had a lot of success. And it was, it was a good team when I got here. So don't take it the wrong way, but still felt in order to get to be a contender. And to be able to challenge for the Cup, we had to continue to change the makeup of the team. So there were some changes in the offseason we got going into that year. And we get off to a slow start, and then that's really when a lot of changes were made, you know, bringing Mike Sullivan in, which was really the key to it all, and then him being confident in the guys that he had in Wilkes-Barre and bringing that group of guys in. And that's when it started to come together.
Reed: Phil Kessel, no one ever doubted his talent, or ability to fill the net. But there were issues with him in his previous stops. Why did you think it would work here, when maybe he didn't have as much of a positive impact as he may have had in Toronto or even Boston?
Rutherford: Well, in Toronto, he was the guy and the all the focus was on him, which brings a lot of pressure. And I just felt that a guy with that kind of skill level -- you know, everybody talks about his goals and his shot, but he's one of the best playmakers in the league. And I felt putting them in with our group, and just being one of the group, you know, being one of the guys -- not the guy, one of the guys like the group of five or six we had -- that that would take a lot of pressure off. Now it's like any trade, I'm not absolutely sure it's gonna work. But in your mind, you feel good about it. And I felt good about Phil. Of all the trades I made with the Penguins, it was the one that was hardest to make within our group because there are a lot of different opinions on whether we should bring Phil in, through our hockey ops, through people that had experience with him prior, and people that weren't quite sure that that was the right thing to do. But we worked our way through it. We made the deal. And he was a key part of the Cup, both Cups.
Reed: Jim, we talked earlier in our show about how there are some similarities to the 2009 Cup in the sense that the team doesn't start off very well. There's a coaching change in the middle of the season, and then they make a great run. At what point in that season, did you realize, hey, this team can make a deep run for the Cup?
Rutherford: Oh, I'm not quite sure. I mean, we got to a point in the season that everybody from the players, to the coaches to myself, we were very confident in this team. Now that doesn't mean we're confident we're gonna win the Cup, because a lot of things have to go right. You have to have all the breaks and be healthy and all that stuff. But we were confident that when we were healthy and going that we could beat any team, and the momentum kept going and going and going. Now, Sully and his coaching staff did a terrific job in the early stages of building that foundation for these players to do well. And then it almost to a point when we got to the playoffs where it was just roll the lines out there, no concern from Sully's point of view, just roll whatever line was ready. It didn't matter who was up and they were going. Regardless what happened in a game or if we lost the game that should have been a setback for us, they're right back out with confidence. And once we hit the playoffs, there was really nothing stopping us at that point.
Haase: We talked about the impact of the Phil Kessel trade, but was there maybe a particular player acquisition in that year that just cemented the Penguins' status as a real title threat, maybe Phil, or other than Phil?
Rutherford: Well, every everybody played a role. You know, it wasn't necessarily the acquisition, but it was the addition of the younger guys coming up -- the Guentzels, the Shearys -- when they come up from Wilkes Barre with Sully. A guy that is not necessarily known as a big impact guy from an offensive point of view, but fit a niche for us and kind of just fit into the team -- we knew he wasn't going to get rattled -- was Ben Lovejoy. And I know we ended up trading a young defenseman (Simon Despres) for him to get him, but we felt we needed his experience. I believe '16 -- and this was not an acquisition -- but I believe in '16, that was the year that Zatkoff played the first game of the playoffs, was it not?
Haase Yes, Mr. Game 1.
Rutherford: Yeah, Mr. Game 1, right. And that, that was when Fleury got hurt. There was a little concern, not necessarily within the players. But I remember David Morehouse coming to me and saying, 'Oh, man, this is such a bad break. What are we going to do now?' And he was right, it was a bad break. But what we were going to do is keep playing and put a young goalie in in Matt Murray, and I felt confident in him. And it was more about being confident because I went through that in Carolina in '06, when we had to turn to a rookie goalie Cam Ward partway through the playoffs and he carried the team right through. So that kind of gave me a good feeling. It gave me the confidence that another young goalie could do it. And as it turned out, Matt Murray did it.
Haase: We talked about Mike Sullivan's impact earlier, but did you anticipate that he could have had such a quick and significant impact that early on? Could you talk about just what he did to have that kind of impact?
Rutherford: Well, it was a system he brought in, and the system he brought in was one that the players liked to play. And so that was a good start to it. He made everybody accountable. It didn't matter who it was. He made that clear from the start. If the top players struggled in a game or a couple of games, you know, they're going to be accountable for it. And he treated all the players the same, but he had great communication with the players. They had great respect for him. And it just grew as each week went by, and just kept snowballing into a point where, like I said earlier, the players and the coaches had the confidence that it didn't matter what happened, we were going to win.
Molinari: Jim, you mentioned you were on a pretty good roll going into the playoffs and then through the early stages. Was there ever any point during that playoff run where you questioned whether the group was really good enough to win a Cup?
Rutherford: No, no, never with that group once said it started rolling. I mean, obviously early in the year there was a question mark at to where we were going or whether we're even going to be a playoff team at one point in time. And that's when I made the coaching change and made some of those changes. But once guys fit into their own little niche, and they were all confident that they're all part of the team, and Sully was rolling four lines and playing six defenseman, and we were getting the goaltending we were getting, there was never any doubt that we had a really good chance to win the Cup.
Molinari: Let's take you back to game six in San Jose. Is there any moment during that game or after the game that stands out as your most vivid memory?
Rutherford: (laughs) Well, the biggest memory always when you go to San Jose is that they hang you up in the rafters to watch the game. From that press box you're not even sure that where you're sitting is going to be there by the end of the game. It just hangs there. But you know, I guess the biggest moment is the final buzzer. The group, our hockey ops group up there, my good friend Jason Botterill, and Jason Karmanos, and Billy Guerin and those guys. When that buzzer went, to see the joy on their faces, let alone my own, that was a very special moment. Because from where we started that year to where we ended up, every one of those guys worked really hard to contribute in some way to make this team better. And it was a great feeling.
Molinari: And let me take you back to the days after you returned to Pittsburgh that year. Is there anything from the celebrations in the couple of days that followed the Cup that stands out to you?
Rutherford: Oh, boy, there were a lot of celebrations. I mean, the Penguins, you know, they're first class. They know how to handle these, these celebrations and situations, I guess because they've been through it before. They've had some practice. But the way we were treated and the way we were received by all the fans and everywhere we went, not just for the celebrations, but just out on our own with our families and things like that. It's what I've said all along from when I first came back to Pittsburgh to be a manager. It's just a very special place. It's a great sports town, and to see how much everybody enjoyed that, it was just a fun memory.
