Jim Rutherford launched his Hockey Hall of Fame career as general manager of the Windsor Compuware Spitfires – Pt II
Jim Rutherford’s hockey ties to Windsor go back nearly four decades and the newly appointed president and interim general manager of the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks has long has had no shortage of memories from the launch of his hockey management career with the then-Windsor Compuware Spitfires.
Rutherford remained as the gm of the Windsor Compuware Spitfires for one season(1988-89) following the team’s crushing defeat in the final game of the 1988 Memorial Cup tournament before the team was sold to a group of Windsor businessmen including Steve Riolo and the club reverted back to being called the Windsor Spitfires.
He then helped Compuware Corporation owner Peter Karmanos, who himself was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015, secure an OHL expansion franchise for Detroit, which necessitated the sale of the Compuware Spitfires as OHL rules did not allow for an owner – or owners – to have control of two teams. While Rutherford left Windsor to join the Detroit Compuware Ambassadors he did not serve in the same position in Detroit that he had in Windsor. Tony MacDonald was the gm in Detroit with Andy Weidenbach as the team’s head coach. Rutherford was the president of the Ambassadors, who played their home games at Cobo Arena on Detroit’s riverfront.
While still active with the Compuware Ambassadors, Rutherford and Karmanos continued to chase their dream of owning and operating an NHL team. After their efforts to purchase both the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins failed, Compuware was finally successful in purchasing the Hartford Whalers in June of 1994. Rutherford became a minority owner of the Whalers (Karmanos was the majority shareholder) in addition to serving as both the team’s director of hockey operations and general manager.
After three seasons in Hartford the franchise relocated to Greensboro, North Carolina and became known as the Carolina Hurricanes. Rutherford, who presided over the team’s eventual move to Raleigh, North Carolina, guided the ‘Canes to the Stanley Cup in 1996 and remained in his dual positions with the team before taking over as executive vice-president and general manager of Pittsburgh in 2014.
He molded the Penguins into back-to-back Stanley Cup champions and remained in his dual position where he reported to then-team owner and fellow Hockey Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux.
Rutherford resigned from his post as general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins on January 27, 2021, citing personal reasons.
After sitting on the hockey sidelines for almost three years, he was named president of hockey operations and interim general manager of the Vancouver Canucks on December 9, 2021
Part one of this story can be found here.