This may have been posted elsewhere, but an interesting mention of the Kessel deal from the Hurricanes owner. He ripped Jim Rutherford before getting to Kessel:
?I ultimately take responsibility for everything,? Karmanos said.
Rutherford, now the Penguins GM, made perhaps the biggest NHL splash Wednesday, completing a trade that brought Toronto Maple Leafs forward Phil Kessel to Pittsburgh. That also earned a mention from Karmanos, who quipped, ?I do not have to take responsibility for Pittsburgh signing Kessel.
?Pittsburgh has no first-round picks anymore,? he added. ?They traded their first-round pick from the year before, they traded their first-round pick for this year and now they've traded their first-round pick for next year. But they have Kessel, who may score as many goals as Alex Semin did.?
More, just for fun (Karmanos re. Semin):
?We didn't buy him out to save cap space or anything like that. We bought him out because he was a distraction, he wasn't going to perform and we wanted to get on to building a team that could win.?
Karmanos ripping Rutherford again:
?[Francis is] far more astute on the financial end of the game,? Karmanos said. ?Jim liked to talk about the fact that we're a ?budget team.' I'm not sure what that ever meant. Every team has a budget. That means we had a budget until Jim needed a player, then I'd say, ?OK,' and we had a different budget.?
http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/eye-on-hockey/25231569/hurricanes-owner-peter-karmanos-slams-penguins-gm-jim-rutherford