from Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

The Penguins are trying to bounce back from an embarrassing first-round playoff exit by “changing the culture” and becoming harder to play against, and they feel subtracting Kessel will help in that regard. They added a player six years younger who makes almost $2 million less.

Kessel, who had a restrictive no-trade clause that allowed him to be moved to only eight teams without his permission, wanted to be traded to Arizona, where he will play for coach Rick Tocchet. Kessel had a good relationship with Tocchet while he was a Penguins assistant.

They didn’t exactly see eye to eye on the way out the door, though, specifically regarding who initiated the break-up.

“He asked to be traded a few times over the course of time,” Rutherford said. “Of course, then a little time would go by, and maybe he wasn’t quite sure if he wanted traded. But there have been times where he felt that going somewhere else might be in everybody’s best interest.”

“I’m not sure that’s exactly what happened,” Kessel said. “Jim came to me one time and said … I’ll never be a Penguin again. I think he’s mistaken a little bit there. But I don’t want to get involved in that. I’m not here to tell what really happened and the real truth, but whatever Jim wants to say.”

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