Jim Rutherford

I believe that if he puts the work in in the summer, it's the same as anything people do in life.

Preparation is the key to success.

And I don't believe he's put enough preparation in at this point to be the player he needs to be.

But he's young enough.

He's capable of doing it.

And if he does the things he's told to do, he has a chance to succeed here.

But if he doesn't, the GM is going to have to make a decision.

But you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't.

You're damned if you trade the guy because he could go and take off again.

And then, or you could decide, no, he's going to do it here, and he doesn't.

So it's a very tough decision.

But I do feel confident that Petey has the ability that he can bounce back.

And he doesn't have to be a guy who gets 110 points.

Even just a point a game will be enough as this team grows and becomes a better team.

It'll be enough for this team to be successful.

But he's got to get to that and he's got to work at it.

I think that's a fair comment.

In my position, I do have to make some decisions.

But...

He was in charge of most of the things in hockey, making the trades and deciding who's getting called up and down and working with the coach and all those things.