Penguins Rumors: Who will be the next Penguins GM?

It's now going on three weeks since the Pittsburgh Penguins fired Ray Shero, and now some names are leaking out as to who the replacement might be. The Pens are currently the only team in the league without a GM, so presumably they will have their pick of the candidates.

Pierre McGuire

Welp, let's just get this one out of the way.

Dreger on TSN Radio "the McGuire to Pittsburgh situation is not a rumour. He's interviewed twice for that GM position"

— Hope_Smoke (@Hope_Smoke) June 3, 2014

Dreger "this isn't the first rodeo for McGuire and he is keenly interested in jumping back into the NHL"

— Hope_Smoke (@Hope_Smoke) June 3, 2014

Let's just hope, as Mike Colligan alluded to last night on twitter, that the Penguins are more or less using Pierre for his encyclopedic information to vet out other candidates and bounces ideas off the wall.

McGuire has ties to Mario Lemieux, and if Pierre does anything well, it would be to sound personable and great in an interview, but we'll leave the evaluation of his actual talents (being a horrible coach in Hartford, having absolutely zero experience in NHL management since 1997 and none with this current CBA) as good enough reason besides the jokes to continue.

Paul Fenton

Dreger "McGuire's going to be in a tough group of company. No question about that. We believe BriseBois/Fenton have been interviewed twice"

— Hope_Smoke (@Hope_Smoke) June 3, 2014

Fenton is the current Nashville assistant GM, which was Ray Shero's job before coming to Pittsburgh. Will Pens ownership be interested in bringing over basically what they already had- a good drafter/developer of defenseman from the David Poile tree of management that has never worked with high-end talent?

Doesn't seem like a great match, however Fenton has been a top candidate for several jobs and it seems like he will be getting a GM job sooner or later somewhere.

Julian BriseBois

Julien Brisebois, as reported before, also a name to keep an eye on in Pens GM search

— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) June 3, 2014

As Dreger said above, it appears BriseBois is also a contender. BriseBois is close with agent Pat Brisson, who probably gave a high recommendation to Pens ownership, which really likes Brisson. Has to help BriseBois' case.

Jim Rutherford

Former Carolina GM Jim Rutherford reportedly has spoken with the Penguins about their GM opening. Once was a goalie for Pittsburgh.

— Dave Molinari (@MolinariPG) June 3, 2014

Asked Jim Rutherford about Pens' GM position and any interest on his part. Says he's under contract with Canes and not commenting.

— Chip Alexander (@ice_chip) June 3, 2014

Oof. Rutherford was pretty brutal as a GM in Carolina, though he had a tight internal budget that may have influenced a lot of his decisions. This would seem to be a pure re-tread hire and a step backwards for the Pens.

Jason Botterill

AKA, the one name you won't be seeing tweets about, because it's in-house. Botterill has been the acting GM and is prepping the team for the draft. That could be in the awkward position of not being the full-general manager for that event if the team gives the job to an outsider. Who knows what Botterill's future in Pittsburgh would be if he doesn't get the job, his special skills (and the lack of assistant GM jobs open right now) may mean that it's in his and the team's best interest to stay together for another season, but it won't be long before a new opportunity comes his way.