Current Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford was the GM for the Carolina Hurricanes for two decades, during which time he no doubt spent ample hours working alongside Canes owner and recent Hockey Hall of Fame-inductee, Pete Karmanos.
Despite the length of his tenure with Carolina, it seems there isn't much in the way of positive feelings between Karmanos and Rutherford at this point.
Karmanos, speaking to Raleigh media on Wednesday in the wake of Rutherford's decision to trade for forward Phil Kessel, offered what Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette dubbed a "blistering critique," and, boy, oh, boy, is that ever an apt description.
"Pittsburgh has no first-round picks anymore," said Karmanos, in reference to the Penguins' perceived win-now approach to this offseason. "They traded their first-round pick from the year before. They traded their first-round pick for this year, and now they've traded their first-round pick for next year. But they have Kessel, who may score as many goals as, uh, Alex Semin did (six). And I don't have to take credit for that."
As for Semin, who the Hurricanes recently bought out, Karmanos was also critical of the major deal - five-years, $35 million - handed to him by Rutherford in March of 2013.
"Ultimately, I take responsibility for everything. I do not have to take responsibility for Pittsburgh signing Kessel, however."
When discussing Rutherford directly, Karmanos offered something of a backhanded compliment about Rutherford's area of expertise in comparison to now Hurricanes GM Ron Francis, likely meant to injure as much as commend.
"Ron is far more inclusive, so he's asking a lot of questions and I give him my opinion. ... He's far more astute on the financial end of the game," said Karmanos. "Jim liked to talk about the fact that we're a 'budget team.' I'm not sure what that ever meant. Every team has a budget. That means we had a budget until Jim needed a player, then I'd say, 'OK,' and we had a different budget. Ronnie is a no-nonsense guy when it comes to those kinds of contracts. He's not worried that he might get criticized if his team doesn't do as well as people think it should. So he doesn't panic when it comes to signing players or worrying about that type of thing. "
Karmanos also commented on the potential sale of Mario Lemieux's portion of the Penguins franchise, originally reported by TSN's Bob McKenzie earlier this offseason.
"The guy's trying to sell the team. ... I think they'll sell that team for between $700 and $800 million in Pittsburgh, and the cupboard will be pretty bare by that time."
Tell us how you really feel, Pete.
