The Pittsburgh Penguins are on the hunt for new front office members. In mid April, after missing the playoffs for the first time in 17 years, the Pens fired president of hockey operations Brian Burke, general manager Ron Hextall, and assistant general manager Chris Pryor.
With important offseason dates quickly approaching, a report from The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun says almost exactly a month later that the Pens are already moving on to their second round of interviews for their vacant general manager position. The two, confirmed most notable names to interview for the open GM spot so far are former Edmonton Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli and former Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin.
Penguins were aiming to interview 10-12 GM candidates as part of 1st wave via Zoom.
Marc Bergevin, Eric Tulsky, Jason Karmanos and Peter Chiarelli confirmed as being among those 10-12 candidates who interviewed. Now comes 2nd phase for some of them.— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) May 15, 2023
Chiarelli helped guide the Boston Bruins to a Stanley Cup championship back in 2011 but is probably most known for his unfortunate tenure with the Oilers. He arrived in Edmonton after superstar Connor McDavid had already joined the club and put together a team that missed the playoffs in three of four seasons with him in charge.
Among his worst moves include the big three-year, $13.5 million extension handed out to goaltender Mikko Koskinen, trading Justin Schultz for just a third-round draft pick, trading Jordan Eberle for Ryan Strome and then trading Ryan Strome for Ryan Spooner, signing Milan Lucic to a seven-year, $42 million contract, trading a first and a second-round draft pick for big-time bust Griffin Reinhart, and finally his pièce de résistance of trading soon-to-be league MVP Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson.
Time for an updated Peter Chiarelli castoff All-Star team pic.twitter.com/0KEimvez3a
— Mike Commito (@mikecommito) January 22, 2019
Bergevin was a bit of a wild card as GM in Montreal. That is perhaps most shown by the fact that he finished second in voting for the General Manager of the Year award for the 2020–21 season and yet was fired the ensuing fall.
One of his most criticized moves was the signing of former Caps defenseman Karl Alzner to a five-year, $23.125 million deal in free agency. Alzner played just one season in Montreal before needing to be placed on unconditional waivers.
Habs fans will also needle him about selecting Alex Galchenyuk third overall in the 2012 draft as he eventually turned Galchenyuk into Josh Anderson who was the 95th player selected in that same draft. Bergevin also signed off on selecting Jesperi Kotkaniemi third overall in 2018 over names like Brady Tkachuk and Quinn Hughes as well as selecting a criminally convicted Logan Mailloux with the team’s 2021 first-round pick after Mailloux released a statement prior to the 2021 NHL Draft asking teams to not select him.
The other names LeBrun mentioned include Carolina Hurricanes assistant general manager Eric Tulsky and Buffalo Sabres associate general manager Jason Karmanos who the Pens fired back in 2020.
The Calgary Flames are also without a general manager for next season and reportedly may have interest in speaking with Bergevin as well.
