The Penguins continued to restructure their front office on Wednesday, promoting Patrik Allvin to assistant general manager.
Allvin, 46, originally joined the Penguins organization in 2006 as a European scout. He climbed the ranks to become the head European scout in 2012. Most recently, he served as the director of amateur scouting from 2017-2020, where he was responsible for leading the draft war room.
“It’s an honor to be part of an organization like the Pittsburgh Penguins,” Allvin said. “I don’t think I ever take anything for granted. I think I’ve had the same approach as a player — keep working hard and do your job and see where it goes. The success we had here over the last 14 years, as an organization, we’re not done yet.”
Change has been the theme of the Penguins’ offseason. After overhauling the assistants, adding to the top-six and reshaping the third pair, general manager Jim Rutherford has shifted his focus to the hockey operations department over the last two weeks.
Last week, somewhat surprisingly, Rutherford fired assistant general manager Jason Karmanos, a long-time member of the organization whose professional relationship with Rutherford dates back to the 1990s in Carolina. The same day, the club also hired former defenseman Trevor Daley as a hockey operations advisor.
By prompting Allvin, Rutherford filled one vacant seat in the front office with an individual who already knows the organization well after nearly a decade-and-a-half of experience.
“Patrik has made a lot of contributions during his 14 years with Pittsburgh and has proven to be a valuable asset for us,” Rutherford said in a statement. “We’ve been impressed with his hockey knowledge and work ethic, and I look forward to working more closely with him.”
In his previous role, Allvin’s job required him to evaluate talent and project what a prospect might become many years down the line. While he’ll still have a hand in that process, his new role will bring him more actively into the process of tinkering with an NHL roster to maximize the remainder of the Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang era.
It’s different. Yet, Allvin sees some parallels.
“The NHL is a young league, too, nowadays,” Allvin said. “You’ve got to be able to somehow project players coming out of different teams, different organizations for better opportunities that might be provided on the Pittsburgh Penguins.”
The Penguins’ assistant general manager job has historically been a launching pad for hockey executives. Tom Fitzgerald, Jason Botterill and Bill Guerin all previously held the assistant GM job under Rutherford before earning opportunities as general managers for other clubs. Fitzgerald serves as the New Jersey Devils GM, Guerin left just over a year ago for the Minnesota Wild GM job, and Botterill was fired by the Buffalo Sabres after three seasons as GM.
“Those are the people I’ve learned from working extremely close with,” Allvin said. “The relationships I have with those guys nowadays, I’m extremely fortunate to have worked with them and learned from them. On top of that, getting the opportunity to work with a Hall of Fame general manager in Jim Rutherford.
“I’m excited and humbled about this opportunity. I’ll see where it takes me.”
Also on Wednesday, the Penguins added to Sam Ventura’s job description. Ventura, who previously served as director of hockey research, was named director of hockey operations and hockey research. In his expanded role, he’ll be working closely with Allvin on the salary cap, collective bargaining agreement and the hockey operations budget.
The Penguins also clarified Erik Heasley’s job description. He was briefly the interim general manager of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after Karmanos was fired. The club announced Heasley will continue in his role as manager of hockey operations and assistant general manager of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
That means the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton general manager position remains vacant. One or more hires could be on the horizon to solidify the hockey operations staff and round out the organization’s front office.
Mike DeFabo: mdefabo@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MikeDeFabo
First Published: November 4, 2020, 7:19 p.m.
