Penguins GM Jim Rutherford sets priorities while running team in age of coronavirus

Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford has some of the same thoughts many Western Pennsylvanians do as the coronavirus pandemic has kept people holed up in their homes for extended periods of time.

Not macaroni and cheese again.

Rutherford spoke with reporters on a conference call Wednesday afternoon shortly after spending the morning watching a replay of the Penguins’ 1991 Stanley Cup-clinching Game 6 win in Minnesota on the NHL Network.

He said he flew back to Pittsburgh with the Penguins on March 12, the day the NHL announced its season would be paused, filled his car up with gas, parked it in his driveway and has been in self-isolation at home with his wife and son since.

It’s brought back memories of a simpler time in his life, growing up in Beeton, Ontario, when variety on the dinner menu wasn’t great for a different reason.

“A person at my age, when I think back and how I was brought up, there weren’t a lot of things to do, and we just spent a lot of time at home,” the 71-year-old general manager said. “You were just around the house, really, a lot. My family lived from check to check. We didn’t have very much. So we didn’t do extra things. We ate the same dinner, the same food, for three nights in a row and things like that, and those are the things we’re doing now.

“Family’s so important to me, but to appreciate what my family did for me under tough times — not going through a virus but having to live the way we’re living right now — it brings back a lot of memories and the appreciation and respect I have for my mom and dad.”

Rutherford said his priority at this time is the big picture: Making sure his family — and his extended Penguins family, including the team’s employees and fans — is safe and healthy.

Beyond that, he is trying to make sure the organization is ready to go whenever hockey resumes.

No Penguins player has been tested for covid-19, Rutherford said, and none has reported symptoms to the best of his knowledge. Many players, he said, have returned to their home countries. All have received individualized workout plans, which they can follow at home, from the team’s strength and conditioning staff.

Rutherford said he speaks daily with coach Mike Sullivan and nearly every day with team president David Morehouse to be aware of any issues that might arise.

He takes part in a weekly general managers’ conference call with the league during which a wide variety of topics are discussed, from possible contractual problems caused by a long layoff to potential playoff formats the league could use to determine the 2020 Stanley Cup champion.

Rutherford acknowledged there are a multitude of scenarios that remain in play pertaining to an eventual return to NHL ice.

Whether that will be to finish this season or begin the next, Rutherford’s overarching goal remains the same.

“If we’re playing in the playoffs for the Cup, we’re going for it this year, and we’ll do whatever it takes to win,” Rutherford said. “As for going forward, we have some flexibility. I don’t know how much flexibility and what the cap will be and what the future holds, but I feel comfortable that we’ll be able to figure that out.”