First of all, he wanted a "good fit" for the franchise. Second, he wanted to go outside of the organization and bring in someone that would offer a different perspective and bring a different flavor to the Hurricanes.
He certainly had some quality options within the franchise, notably in assistant coach Ron Francis and Jeff Daniels, the team's Charlotte affiliate head coach. But Rutherford rolled the dice a bit, and opted for Kirk Muller, who has all of 16 games of professional head coaching experience.
I did talk to Jeff Daniels, who is prepared to be head coach, one by moving him here obviously disrupts the development part of what we're trying to do in Charlotte…," Rutherford said Monday evening at the RBC Center.
"At the end of the process, I really wanted to bring somebody in that had some ideas from another organization, and between the teams that Kirk's played for and then working with the Montreal Canadiens he will bring some new and fresh ideas to our team."
Muller spent five seasons as an assistant with Montreal before getting the job leading the Nashville Predators' top minor club this past summer. He guided Milwaukee to a 10-6 mark before accepting Carolina's offer.
Rutherford said the lackluster effort in a 4-0 loss at Montreal two weeks ago was when he made the decision to replace Paul Maurice. Rutherford spoke to Muller for "approximately 7-10 days" and the 45-year-old Muller was their number one choice.
"I'm just honest, straightforward," Muller said. "I believe in accountability. I believe that it's a tough league, you've got to work hard, and if everyone's accountable to each other, everyone buys into a system, it's amazing what you can accomplish."
There may be more changes ahead for the Hurricanes. Rutherford wants to add a top-six or top-nine forward and could try to deal a defenseman.
"We're a long ways away from being the team we need to be," Rutherford said.
Maurice, who helped shepherd the club's move from Hartford to North Carolina in the late 1990s, returned to the Hurricanes in December 2008 when Peter Laviolette was fired. He guided their run to the 2009 Eastern Conference final, the club's only postseason berth since they won the Cup in 2006.
Before that, they hadn't reached the playoffs since Maurice led them to the 2002 Stanley Cup final — the highlight of his first stint with the team. He was first fired by Carolina in 2003-04 following an 8-14-8-2 start.
Maurice received a three-year contract in 2009 that ran through this season. His combined record with the team was 384-391-145, and his career record of 460-457-167 includes two years with Toronto sandwiched by his stints with Carolina.
Maurice did not immediately return a text message left Monday by The Associated Press seeking comment.
Maurice holds the Hurricanes' career coaching record with 25 playoff victories. The 2009-10 team set a club record with a 14-game winless streak, last season's group finished one victory shy of making the postseason when it lost the finale on home ice and this season's team has shown virtually no consistency.
"When you put a group of guys together at the start of each season, you watch to see the team come together and to jell," Rutherford said.
"Some teams do, and some teams don't. And at this point in time, this team hasn't — for whatever reason. ... From a team-concept point of view, even in years we haven't made the playoffs ... we've been very fortunate with real character guys that wanted to win at all costs. And at this point in time, this group of guys don't. Haven't.
"So that's what we'll see here. Can Kirk pull these guys together and get them to step their game up? And if he can, that's good for this group."
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