PITTSBURGH — If coaches and general managers were eligible for the Conn Smythe Trophy, we’d be slotting Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan and Jim Rutherford into the roles as the frontrunning candidates right now.
The fact the Penguins are just one win away from the fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history without any one or two players dominating the stats sheet is a true indication of how Pittsburgh has found the rare commodity that every organization strives for — balance.
It’s Rutherford who cleaned house within the span of just a year, changing 66% of his forward core. Indeed only four — Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Patric Hornqvist and Chris Kunitz — remain from the group of 12 who were on the Penguins side eliminated by the Rangers in the first round last spring.