Penguins fire assistant general manager Jason Karmanos
The Penguins have fired assistant general manager Jason Karmanos, the organization announced Monday.
No reason for the decision was cited.
“We would like to thank Jason Karmanos for his contributions to the organization over the past six years,” general manager Jim Rutherford said in a statement. “I have been evaluating our hockey operations department, and this is the first part of the process to re-organize our group.”
Jim Rutherford declined to comment on the decision when contacted by the Tribune-Review.
Karmanos also served as general manager of the team’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Director of hockey research, Sam Ventura, will assume the assistant general manager duties on an interim basis while Erik Heasley, manager of hockey operations, has been named interim general manager of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Karmanos, 46, joined the Penguins in June of 2014, roughly a week after Rutherford was hired as general manager. Initially serving as vice president of hockey operations for three seasons, Karmanos was promoted to assistant general manager in June 2017.
On Sept. 11, Karmanos was named general manager of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, replacing Mike Vellucci who had been promoted as assistant coach with the NHL club on Sept. 2.
Karmanos had interviewed for the Arizona Coyotes general manager position on Sept. 3.
During his time with the Penguins, many of Karmanos’ duties included overseeing the organization’s usage of advanced statistics.
A member of the Penguins’ Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017, Karmanos has a long history with Rutherford, having served under Rutherford as an assistant general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes beginning in 1998 and held that position until 2013.
Karmanos is the son of former Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos, a longtime associate of Rutherford.
Earlier this month, Rutherford suggested change was possible with regards to the front office.
“I’ve been looking at this for a while and talked to somebody about coming on board with us,” Rutherford said in an interview with the Tribune Review. “We’re, at this point and time, not ready to do it but could very well do it in the near future.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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