I remember smiling the day I learned that former GM Ray Shero had signed ex-Penguin Rob Scuderi to a free-agent deal back in the summer of 2013. Broadly.
What wasn’t to like? “Scuds” had served as the defensive anchor on another Cup winner—this time in Los Angeles—while mentoring talented young Drew Doughty. I figured Shero had found the perfect partner for our own mercurial star, Kris Letang.
Nor was I overly concerned with Scuderi’s age (34 at the time) or the length of his contract (four years). After all, mobility never was his strong suit. Letang could serve as his wheels while Scuds did the dirty work and heavy lifting in the defensive zone.
A match made in hockey heaven. Or so I thought.
What seemed good in theory never quite worked out on the ice. Hampered by the lingering effects of a fractured ankle suffered in only his 11th game back, the Long Island native morphed into something he’d never been during his glorious first tour of duty with the Pens.
A liability.
Indeed, the ’09 Cup hero quickly became a pariah to the Pens’ faithful. His $3.375M annual cap hit? A millstone weighing down the team’s coffers.
It was sad to see Scuderi devalued in such a way. Especially given his selfless, team-first nature.
To his credit, No. 4 bounced back in 2014-15. Teamed with puck-moving partner Simon Despres, Scuds regained a measure of his old effectiveness. Taking a knee to block a shot. Sweeping pucks from harm’s way with that educated stick. Banging opponents with an occasional hip check. In short, doing the unglamorous tasks he did best.
Scuderi enjoyed a similar degree of success this season when paired with Olli Maatta. However, with an increased emphasis on speed and puck movement from the defense, the one-time stalwart’s days in the ‘Burgh clearly were numbered.
At the very least, Trevor Daley figures to be an intriguing addition. According to a Hockey News profile, the Toronto native’s durable, mobile and athletic. A steady point producer throughout his 12-year-career, Daley struck for 16 goals last season with Dallas—fifth-best among National Hockey League defensemen. A left-handed shot, the 5’11” 195-pounder’s tallied 67 goals and 237 points in 785 NHL games.
“We like Trevor because he can skate,” Pens GM Jim Rutherford said. “He can move the puck, something that we’ve talked about in trying to improve. Improve our back end where we’ve got more puck movers and he can certainly do that.”
Scuderi? Hopefully he’ll find a home in Chicago…and some appreciation for his game. If properly insulated, he can still defend. His new coach, Joel Quenneville, played a similar style. The Hawks’ bench boss has a penchant for getting the most out of reclamation projects, such as former Pen Michal Rozsival. Perhaps he’ll do the same for Scuds.
Best of luck, Rob. And thanks for the memories.
Correct me if I am wrong please…
Is it true we kept salary on Scuds and took a more expensive player in exchange?
A la spending the Duper money we just saved?
FYI: Penguins are still paying one third of Scuderi’s contract. I’m sure the contract room was made by Dupuis departure.
Scuderi is a quality defensive defenseman that was used all wrong by Johnston. He was constantly playing him on Crosby’s line in order to give the line more defense. Sounds like a good plan, but all it did was enable the other team to jam up the area in front of their net. After all, why cover Scuderi at the point. He could have been very useful being mainly paired up with the 3rd and 4th lines.
Trevor Daley is a very interesting pick up even though he makes the defense even smaller. He was 5th in goals last year on defense with 6 goals on the powerplay. He was 2nd in shooting percentage on the PP among players with 5 or more goals. Daley only missed the net on the PP 9 times, amazing. The Penguins have been in desperate need of a powerplay defenseman that can shoot the puck on net, enough that they brought in an over the hill Gonchar.
One other stat in his favor is that last year Letang was third overall in powerplay giveaways, Daley had only 4.
Hey Rick,
Rob Scuderi is a class act. To me,he and Brooks Orpik were the backbone of our 2009 Cup win.The true professional Scuds is,he probably realized it was time to move on or retire. JR is to be praised for two things in this deal. First,(and I have to eat a little crow on this one,) he made an impossible deal happen.For roughly a million dollars per year. A great deal when you realize his other option was to buy out Scuderi’s contract and that would have cost us more.The second point,to me shows the true charterer of JR in that he dealt Scuds to the current reigning Stanley Cup Champions, who are favored to win again this year. A real chance for ROB SCUDERI to get his name on the Cup one more time. Nice touch JR..
It would make a great trivia question ? Which Penguin player from the 2009 era has the most cups ? Sid,Geno,Kris,Marc-Andre…Rob ?
cheers.
Hey Jim,
Nice follow-up comments about Scuderi.
Frankly, I was surprised Rutherford was able to move Scuds–and get a decent player like Daley in return. Of course we are picking up a portion of his salary. But it sure beats a buy-out.
I really hope Scuderi does well for Chicago. He took so much heat the past couple of years. It would be nice to see him regain some luster to his reputation before he retires.
A shame it didn’t work out here.