The Pittsburgh Penguins, who won’t make the playoffs for the first time in 17 years, announced a major housecleaning on Friday morning.
General manager Ron Hextall, assistant general manager Chris Pryor and president of hockey operations Brian Burke have all been relieved of their duties.
“We are grateful to Brian, Ron and Chris for their contributions to the organization over the past two seasons, but believe the team will benefit from new leadership in hockey operations,” commented owners John Henry and Tom Werner via press release.
“While this season has been disappointing, we believe in our core players and our goal of competing for the Stanley Cup has not changed. »
The search for a new staff therefore begins now, they say. In the meantime, the director of hockey operations, Alec Schall, the general manager of the club-school, Erik Heasley and the analyst of hockey operations, Andy Saucier, will share the various responsibilities. Head coach Mike Sullivan will also be involved in the transition.
It’s only the second time since Sidney Crosby’s debut in 2005-06 that the Penguins have missed the spring tournament. In the past 16 years, they have won the Stanley Cup three times, made the Finals four times and made the Conference Finals five times.
The decision to sack the three hockey men comes the day after the conclusion of a very uneven season. The Penguins finished the schedule with a 40-31-11 record, ranked ninth in the Eastern Conference, ending the longest active playoff streak among the major professional leagues in North America. .
Hextall and Burke were hired in February 2021, shortly after the unexpected resignation of former general manager Jim Rutherford, who built a team that won the Stanley Cup in 2016 and again in 2017.
The duo had the mandate to keep together a core of players that includes three pillars of the franchise, namely Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.
Although Hextall managed to sign Malkin and Letang to new contracts last summer, the majority of decisions to surround this core have had negative consequences.
The Penguins struggled to generate offense beyond their top two lines and received little help from their defensemen except for Letang and Marcus Pettersson.
The team’s position in net has also become problematic as injuries and erratic performances at that position have been costly.