The National Hockey League confirmed last night what Pittsburgh Penguins fans already knew. Jim Rutherford, who did a masterful job of transforming a shopworn black-and-gold team into Stanley Cup champions, was named General Manager of the Year in a vote of his peers at the league’s Annual Awards banquet in Las Vegas.
With typical modesty, the grandfatherly 67-year-old native of Beeton, Ontario was quick to deflect praise.
“I’m kind of the guy that steers the ship, but I’m just one part of it,” Rutherford said.
It marked the third time in his lengthy front-office career that JR earned top-executive honors. He was named Executive of the Year by The Hockey News in 2002 and 2006, and The Sporting News (hockey) Executive of the Year in ’06.
He became the second Pens GM to win the NHL’s version of the award. Ray Shero was honored in 2012-13.
Among the other awards, Sidney Crosby finished second to Patrick Kane in the Hart Trophy voting. The Blackhawks’ star became the first American-born player to earn the award. Kane also garnered the Art Ross Trophy (point-scoring title) and Ted Lindsay Award (NHLPA MVP) to collect three high-profile awards.
Crosby, recent winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP), performed a similar awards hat trick (Hart/Ross/Lindsay) in 2006-07 and 2013-14. A feat duplicated by teammate Evgeni Malkin in 2011-12.
Mike Sullivan finished a surprisingly distant fifth to Washington’s Barry Trotz in the voting for the Jack Adams Award (coach of the year). Pascal Dupuis was passed over for the Masterton Trophy (perseverance & dedication) in favor of former Pens great Jaromir Jagr.
Other major award winners included the Kings’ Drew Doughty (Norris—best defenseman), Chicago’s Artemi Panarin (Calder—top rookie) and Washington’s Braden Holtby (Vezina—best goalie). Kings center Anze Kopitar took home two awards—the Selke (best defensive forward) and the Lady Byng (sportsmanship & gentlemanly play).
Caps sniper Alex Ovechkin snared the Maurice Richard Trophy (most goals) for the fourth consecutive season and sixth time in his career.
Anaheim goalie John Gibson shared the Jennings Trophy (fewest goals allowed by a team) with Frederik Andersen. It was the first time in NHL history that a Pittsburgh native has won a major award.
Crosby and Letang Named to Postseason All-Star Team
Crosby was named a First-Team NHL All-Star. It marked the fourth time the Pens’ captain had earned a spot on the top team.
Following a sluggish start, No, 87 paced the NHL in regular-season scoring (66 points) after December 12.
Sid was joined by defenseman Kris Letang, who was named a Second-Team NHL All-Star. The Montreal native also earned Second-Team honors in 2012-13.
“Tanger” finished third among NHL defensemen in scoring with 67 points.
Las Vegas Awarded NHL Franchise
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced last night that Las Vegas was awarded an expansion franchise, swelling the league’s ranks to 31 teams. The new club—yet to be named—will begin play in 2017-18 and compete in the Pacific Division.
An expansion draft will be held on June 20, 2017, to help stock the new team. Las Vegas also will participate in the 2017 Entry Draft lottery, assuring it of a top-six pick.
The league deferred action on an application for an expansion team from representatives of Quebec City. The Quebec Nordiques competed in the World Hockey Association for seven seasons (1972-79) and the NHL for 16 more (1979-95) before relocating to Colorado.
Hey Guys and Gals,
A new thread.
Shea Weber is now a Hab ! It was not bad enough to play him 2 or 3 times a year in the Western conference, but now we will play him 6 or 7 times in the regular season and in the play offs.Won’t that be fun !
Then as if I was dreaming,Taylor Hall is now in New Jersey ! Shero is up to his old tricks. Taylor Hall !! Heart and soul of the Oilers. One of the top 10 young forwards in the game and with 4 more years on his contract at light 6 million a year.This guy is a potential 100 point + a year guy that is just entering his prime at 24-25 years old.
Life just gets better and better and better.
Then today we find out that Super Steve is not going to Toronto, but he is staying in Tampa Bay for the next 8 years and he gave them a home town discount of 2 million a year so he could help win his team a Cup.( Ala Crosby) and Johnathon Drouin is staying in Tampa as well . Lovely, just lovely.
So guys and gals, the west is a changin as they say.
In the next 3 days to 5 days there will be many more big trades for sure.
Great to be a Pen’s fan.
Any thoughts?
Other than the Hall Larrson move I don’t see much of a difference. The Habs were just getting rid of supposed locker room trouble (seems to follow Therien around). Tampa is going to have a big salary cap/expansion draft problem to sort through at the end of next year just like the Pens. Once you get a blood clot supposedly you are prone to more, like Dupuis. I hope Stamkos doesn’t because he is so much fun to watch. MAF told me once he has the best shot in hockey, hardest to track.
I will be watching Lovejoy, Shultz, Cullen & Staal tomorrow. Staal just because I believe he no longer has a competitive bone in his body and I want to see how desperate a team is to pick him up. (Kings???)
The thing that interests me is… Since Cullen declared he is not retiring two days ago, Rutherford had either made him and offer and it was declined or has not made him an offer.
Two time all-star Brian Elliot .930 sv% last season was traded for a 2nd round pick & 3rd round contingent pick. His salary is 1/3 of Fleury’s. Three GM’s not including Rutherford or Armstrong had stated in interviews that they expected their goaltenders to go in the expansion draft.
I’m so glad Rutherford didn’t do anything stupid. Penguins have the Stanley Cup team almost in the same position this year. Think about it. If Pittsburgh’s current favorite backup quarterback golden-boy Murray goes out with a torn acl or concussion do you really think the Penguins can win a Cup with Zatkoff in net? I will give you a hint… If you do, you are sorely mistaken.
Rutherford has built the team having quality back-ups at every position, it is why he was deserving of GM of the year.
well I have to give credited where credit is due!! Way to go Jim.
Not sure though if anyone has noticed but, we only have about $1 mill under the cap to work with.
MAF and Kunitz should and need to be dealt
Hi Pens 4Ever.
Fully agree with you.We need to create cap space. NOW !
What good is 1 million dollars? Really when you have free agents to sign?
Problem is if you trade MAF alone,his value on the open market
is limited and the return is minimal.But if we wait until next February
it could be much, much worse.Case in point.What if again no Canadian teams
make the playoffs again next year,the NBA Raptors go on a crazy run like
they did this year that takes away viewership,the Canadian dollar goes lower due to external factors like what just happened in Britain last week……
The salary cap for 2017 could be in the 67 to 69 million range and then the NHL will have to claw back the 5% artificial escalator clause. Try to get top dollar value for a 32 year old Goalie then ! The only way I see this situation
changing is to do a package deal of players including the two players you mentioned above.
Like Coach mentioned, maybe a deal in Dallas for the 21 year old Russian right winger, a young large defense man, and take back a goalie short term ?
What would you have to give up ???
Next to the play offs,this is the best 2 weeks in Hockey as a fan. The draft and then free agency. JR will earn that GM of the Year Award if he can make it all happen and still be Cap compliant come next October.
Let’s go Pen’s…
Cheers
I’ve stated my MAF case a million times, my tickets are right behind the goalie on the end where the other teams shoot twice I really get to see goaltenders abilities. But Kunitz now also? Kunitz is an incredibly great fill in for Hornqvist who takes insane abuse in front of the opposing net shift after shift. If Hornqvist needs a breather from the abuse, a minute to nurse a shot block bruise or just finished a long shift, it is good to know you can throw in a Kunitz especially on the powerplay with little loss.
Now if we trade the two for money to sign Stamkos, I’m all for it!
Did you mean we are $1 mil over and need to trade them? I haven’t looked at the new cap situation.
Hi Phil,
I am envious of you to have such great seats to watch the team we both love so much. Nothing can beat the atmosphere of a live Hockey game. TV does not do it justice for sure.
I believe what Pens 4 ever is referring to is the actual cap space left over to sign the free agents we have.JR made reference to the same in Buffalo. I know that until the start of the season in this October,Pascal Dupris 3.75 million Cap hit will not come off the books, but under the current CBA agreement JR can be 10% over the Cap of 73 million until the start of the new season.
At present,according to NHL records today, the Pens have actual $74,483,332 in committed salary for next year, for 23 players under contract.( 2 goalies,6 d men,14 usable forwards). Subtract Dupris contract of $3,750,000 which clears at the start of the season in October, and you have to add back the Rob Scuderi $1,125,000 in retained salary for next year, and the total is $ 71,983,332 in actual committed salary for 2016-17.
$ 73,000,000 – $ 71,983,332 leaves us $1,016,668 to spend on players.
$ 1,016,668 to sign free agents Matt Cullen,Ben Lovejoy, Justin Schultz and Jeff Zatkoff. Impossible to do for only $1,016,868.
Interesting,the records show Derrick Pouliot as one of the 6 d men,at only $ 863,333 cap hit for next year.The problem is he did not play much because he can not handle the defensive side of the game.He still has issues with his defense.
More interesting is they have signed 14 actual forwards for next year,now BB is gone. Kevin Porter at $ 575,000, Scott Wilson at $ 675,000, Tom K. at $ 625,000, Byran Rust at $ 675,000, Conor Sheary at $ 667,500 and finally Oscar Sundqvist at $ 700,833. We have 14 forwards, and we need 13 in all reality. Porter, Wilson. Even if you take both and go with 12 forwards, that only frees up ( 575 plus 675 )
$1,250,000 of extra cap space.
Add that to $ 1,016,868 and the most you have is $ 2,266,868 to work with, and you have only 12 forwards, 6 d men,( 2 critical ones missing that helped you win a cup) and only 2 goalies.
Not the cup winning Team of 2016 at all.
$ 2,266,868 is all you have unless you make a major trade and move some big contracts.
Now what happens ? You need a d man ! Love joy will cost you at least $1.4 million and Matt Cullen will want a small raise. $ 900,000 ?
He made $800,000 last year,and he was worth twice that amount.
But you can not sign him because you got no Cap Space !!
What happens if we get a few injuries besides during the season and no Cap room?? Then what ? Remember last year.
If we stay the course and keep all the players under contract as listed, we have $ 1,016,868 to get Zatkoff,Mullen,and Lovejoy signed.
Forget Schultz. He is a $ 2.5 to $ 3.5 million dollar guy and he was a big part of our winning team. When Daley went down, he stepped up.
Honestly I would take him over Pouliot any day and next year Pouliot will want a big raise as well.
So that is how the numbers look today unless we can make that trade Rick, Pens 4ever,Other Rick and myself have been talking about.
Always open for other ideas my friend.Thanks for your feed back Phil.
Cheers.
Hi Phil,
In talking with my local hockey buddy just now about the Pens cap situation , I used Cap Friendly and he used another web site.NHL numbers.com . The short of it is they say the Cap space is $1,334,000 not $1,016,668 calculated above from the other site. JR did indeed made reference to the “about 1 million dollars” in cap space for 2016.
The impact still is not overly significant when you need several millions of Cap Space to sign all our free agents from last year as I reminded my buddy..
Plus I noticed a typo in that Scott Wilson makes $ 625,000 and not $ 675,000 as I mentioned above.
Sorry for any confusion caused above, but the overall article states the point I was trying to make.
Cheers.
Jim, amazing in depth synopsis of the cap. WOW! I read it twice to soak it all in! WOW!
Basically there are four guys to sign. Here is the way I see each going.
Lovejoy would be the most important on my list and of the four probably played the biggest part in the Cup run, he was still not a major player. At this stage of his career, I would bet money he goes for the paycheck not the comfy stay in Pittsburgh. Open market I would not be surprised to see him fetch 3-5 mil & a year, 3 year contract. Crazy? Yes, but so was Orpik, Niskananen deals. Every GM would love to say they’ve added a Stanley Cup winning defenseman to their roster in the offseason.
Cullen is not retiring. He could be signed to a similar contract for one year, or he could possibly sign with Chicago or Washington.
Shultz… the Pens didn’t dish out the around $4 mil contract to retain his RFA. He played a very minor role in the cup run what about 10 mins a game after Daley was out. We got him for a bag of pucks (3rd round pick) His open market will not be that great. He may get 2-2.5 open market if he is lucky, highly doubt the Pens go after him.
Zatkoff will be put on waivers and either accept a WBS role helping Jarry learn the ropes or will be claimed. Even if the Pens do trade Fleury like all of you wish, they would have to get an experienced first rate, but lower paid netminder in return. Someone that can split the games with Murray. I know you guys think Murray is cool as a cucumber, but I bet my seats to game five that he wasn’t and couldn’t bring it home and he didn’t disappoint me $$$.
Hi Phil
Thanks for the kind words.
As u mentioned that Lovejoy will command much more than the 300,000 raise I suggested. Pens 4 Ever mentioned the same as you. So where do we get that elusive D Man we need and how do we pay for him? They just signed the d man from Toronto for another year to play in WBS. Tim Ericson. ??
I agree about Justin S. that he is way over paid at 3.9 million? Wishful thinking was that he goes to free agency and receives very few and low offers for
his services and the Pen’s sign him for 2 million.But we both know we cannot do that due to lack of Cap Space. As my buddy said to me yesterday that maybe for 2 million you get a much better option on the open market? But my point was we need another d man to start the season.How do we fix it?
Matt Cullen.I think you need him more than a Porter or a Wilson. Much more. He was our best face off man in the d zone.Plus he was a calming affect on Sid I was told. What would you do about him?
Final point Phil..I would like you and the others opinion on this.Upon reflecting back upon this Cup winning season one thing keeps bugging me.
Crosby,Shear, Horny… HBK.. Malkin,Kunitz and Rust… Tommy K, Cullen,and Fehr…They can send Oscar Sundqvist back to WBS because he has a two way contract.Porter as well. Don’t know about Wilson? I believe it is Sheary and Rust and Tommy K.
that have new one way 2 year contracts.Brian Dumolin has 1 year left on his contract as does Matt Murray.
My point is that most of these kids and 23 is not really a kid, played for us in WBS for at least 2 years and the previous Coaches refused to play them!! Sullivan comes in and in a middle of a major mess and says Play Them!! He had no choice!! They had no cap space and very few tradeable assets.
To me my friend, I find that really strange.
Does anybody else feel the same?
Plus if we get 3 or 4 injuries next season and for some reason the Pen’s are always injured during the regular season, we will not have the depth of qualified players in WBS to repeat what we did this year.
Your thoughts ?
Jim
I believe Kuhnackle, Wilson & Rust do not have two way contracts. The Pens will probably not have the surprise wow this kid can take a roster spot players coming up, but on offense you have a quality veteran center and wing in Jeffreys & Kostopoulos who have made careers out of being fill in role players.
For me the bargaining chip player to trade & get a defenseman for is Eric Fehr. The Pens didn’t just survive almost 30 games without his PK abilities they excelled and to be honest his lack of speed seemed to show once he was playing under Sullivan. His two million would get a substantially good defenseman on the open market provided Rutherford is patient.
If you have a substantial LTI, and Murray is panning out, you always have Fleury. The key part being that you know exactly what you need to get in the trade.
I believe the goal should be just to make the playoffs. If they could be healthy going in, it doesn’t matter what spot they are in. Sullivan plays a great system, very similar to Claude Julien’s and it is the perfect system for this group of guys.
Teams get pumped up and play better when the Stanley Cup champion measuring stick comes to town, so the regular season will be a little tougher. Crosby if healthy will have a great chance to take another Art Ross trophy.
When you have a team that has a good chance to win the Cup sometimes you have to forsake the future.
Hi Jim and Phil,
I agree with you Phil, I would be hard pressed to find a forward in the system that hasn’t played yet but could come in and wow us the way Rust, Sheary, and Kunhackl did. At least non caome to mind. Don’t get me wrong, there are a couple of kids down there that I want to keep an eye on, to see how they develop but I don’t think they are quite ready. But then again they may not need one. The Pens may only need a filler to take up some ice time during injuries.
D is where I may have some concerns. I like Schultz but not at $4mil per yr and some early hype from ESPN might help him get that.
I was critical of Lovejoy early on. However, later on, after some press box time, he did fill a playoff niche rather nicely. So, I wouldn’t throw $$$$ at him either but my guess is there will be other teams willing to be stupid. And as small as they are, I think they need 8 to 9 D men to get through the season. Unfortunately, they really only have 6 D-men right now. so this is where they would need a wow man to come out of the woodwork.
I also agree with you Phil over Fehr. I like him but think he may be a potential bargaining chip. Bonino, Hagelin, Kunhackl, and assuming Cullen resigns, the Pens have 4 really good PK men, so as much as Fehr does bring to the table, he could be the most attractive puzzle piece that is expendable. And as the season progresses and Sundqvist gets more TOI, Fehr could get more expendable on PK.
As for MAF, regardless of any LTI, the Pens may need to consider moving him as the trade deadline approaches. As much as I wish he could retire a Pen, it could prove disastrous to the team, at expansion draft time, if they don’t.
The same argument about Murray not panning out grows even larger when looking at Jarry or Gustavsson or any other G in the system that has no NHL experience at all. At least Murray has proven he can take them through the war that is the play-offs. However, if the Pens lose Murray, and none of the other Gs pan out, they would need to pray for MAF to have 5 or 6 good seasons still in him, while they begin, a new, the search for a number 1 and groom him.
Although It is not that I think it all that impossible to squeeze 5 or 6 more yrs out of MAF, I do think it is more of a gamble than gambling on Murray. Wading through Washington, Tampa Bay, and San Jose does give Murray enough credibility to make him a less of a gamble than 5 or 6 more seasons in MAF as an undisputed number 1.
I haven’t done the math but from what I’ve read is we are $ 1 Mill under the cap on July 1st
Kuntiz is slow and not very effective anymore. He is a little like Phil and gives up too easy on the backcheck, not enough effort and he makes way too much for a guy who plays mostly third line…which by the way has too be the most expensive third line in the entire league, over $13 million dollars!!!
And Lovejoy I bet will get more then 1.4 on the open market this summer
Kunitz was the #3 offensive +/- leader in the NHL with a +29 right behind Anze Kopitar who won the Selke trophy for best defensive forward. I believe I saw him make an insane diving play getting back and poke checked the puck off a players stick stopping an easy breakaway.
Hey Rick, ( and others )
What did you think about the draft my friend ?
We got lucky in securing Gustavsson ,the top or second best
Goalie of the draft depending on whose rankings you read at the 55 th spot.
With Murray,Jarry and now Gustavsson, our position at Goal definitely is a very bright spot for our team. As JR stated,they planned to draft a d man, but when the number 1 or number 2 rated Goal tender is available,they had to take him.
As if MAF needed anything else to worry about ?
With our 61 st pick, Pen’s selected Kasper Bjorkqvist,a right winger. This one was a little off the charts the analysts said. So time will tell how this one works out. If it does, and with last years first pick,D. Sprong also a right winger, plus rookie Byran Rust and Phil being signed for 6 more years, the right side has depth as well for a long time.
In the third round,the Pen’s trade former first rounder Beau Bennett back to Ray Shero of the Devils for ONLY the 77th pick.That was all they could get for him in this market !! To me this speaks volumes about the REAL market value of players today, especially given the new expansion draft for Vegas in 2017. MAF ? Brent Bishop ? PK Suban? P.Marleau? Nail Yakapov? There was some big names being discussed in the last 24 hours and nobody was traded.
The Pen’s selected 6 foot 2 inch, 200 pound defensive d man, Connor Hall from the OHL Kitchener Rangers.He is rated between 100 th and 117 th by the various scouting reports. He plays a very physical game, is projected to be a 5-6 D man the reports suggest. ( Needs to work on his skating ).
With the final three picks, 121,151,181 the Pen’s selected 3 more d men.
What was very interesting to me Rick in this draft particularly, was the size,speed and skill levels of the kids drafted in the first round and half of the second round. Many kids were Six foot 1 inch to six foot 7 inches tall.
200 to 230 pounds, and fast skaters.This draft was a real deep draft !
So now we go to free agency next week and hopefully we can get some more new talent at a good price, sign a few free agents on our team so they do not leave, and unload the talent we have to in order for us to be Cap compliant. Lets go Pen’s.
No time to celebrate, for it was very apparent that the other 29 teams at the draft in Buffalo this week end, are coming for us !!
Cheers.
Hey Jim,
I know you were talking to the Rick B but I thought I would put my 2 cents in.
First, By what you wrote of the Bennett trade “Only getting a 3rd rnd pick for the former first rounder, we may be on oppposite sides of this maneuver. As often as BB has been on the IR, I think JR is picking up where he left off last year in his horse trading. The player the Pens picked in the draft may not pan out either, but it he does represent a potential that BB no longer does, especially since BB came out after his last injury during the regualr season saying that he contemplated retiring after that injury.
Second, the Gustavsson pick scares me a little. Don’t get me wrong, like last year, being able to get what appears to be a good pick even though we didn’t have a first rounder was great, but it does worry me a bit. I am wondering are the Pens hedging their bets against possibly losing Murray in the expansion draft because they feel they will not get just compensation for MAF? With Jarry and now possibly a blue-chipper in Gustavsson, they may feel they have enough depth in the pipe line to try and wait a couple of more years before repacing MAF. Don’t get me wrong,
I am not an MAF hater, I just think Murray is the real deal and don’t want to lose him in the insanity of expanding. The ratings during the SC may not be what the suits in NY want because of the diluted talent pool. There are just too many teams as it is. The league should be looking at contracting a little and maybe facilitating the moving of teams from poorly supported cities that will turn out in droves at the gate and tune into TV games. INstead they cise to add a new team in a city with more transients than residents, sititing in the middle of the desert.
I read somewhere, someone hoping that the Pens would deal MAF for Subban. Subban is a great D-man, so much so that his cap hit is more than 1 1/2 times MAFs cap hit. MAF may love to go to Montreal and the Pens would no doubt be ecstatic over having a Subban to bolster their D, but JR would have to be able to pull of another Kessell deal to make that work.
The Pens second second rounder was interesting. I am wondering if, since he is a left handed shooting RW, are they contemplating on flopping him to LW? As you mentioned they are really deep on the right side; Kessell, Hornqvist, Rust, Sprong, Fehr, and even Kunhackl may be a L shot but is listed as a RW. However, with Kunitz getting up there in age and only Hegelin really proven on the Left side and prospects Sheary and Wilson, do the Pens try both Kunhackl and Bjorkvist on the L.
An interesting tongue in cheek comment I read was contemplating the qvist line to compliment the HBK line and how Nordic announcers would love to call that game; Sundqvist flanked by Hornqvist and Bjorkvist. Although 2 are Swedes the new qvist is a Fin.
Like you I did take note of the size of many of the players in the draft. I wasn’t sure how their skating was rated, but if/when they start to infuse their teams with youth, the avg size looks like it may start going up again.
Finally, unless the Pens deal MAF and/or Kunitz, they may be relatively quiet during FA. They may really only resign their UFA and RFA. And I think I wrote it here, I hope they either get an extension on Bonino or renegotiate now. If the HBK continues to wreak as much havoc during the coming season as it did in the play-offs, they may not be able to afford to sign him next year.
Maybe the Pens can still work a deal with Dallas or someone to trade MAF and free up some more $$$ to find a D or LW in the FA market, one that would not upset the chemistry of team play rather than individual glory.
Hey Coach,
Nice to hear from you again.You know by now that you and others are always welcome to join in anytime as your opinions add so much to the discussions we have.
With regards to Bennett, because of your Hockey background and deep knowledge of the team,( like Rick,Phil,Pen’s 4 ever as well ), you get my point that getting only a 77th pick, was to tell others that our team,while being Cup Champions, many of our players will not get us much on the open market. We tend to think that our players are some what special and as a result the rest of the league will pay us a premium for them. The Beau Bennett trade is an example of someones true worth. Ditto…MAF ! In my mind he was worth the 6 th draft pick from Calgary,but in reality on the open market this weekend he was not. JR wanted to trade him bad ! No takers for a first round pick. I as a fan may not like it,but that is the truth! ( One team said he is 31 years old,has had 2 serious concussions and has a tendency to let goals go in the top corners.Plus pay him 5.7 million a year for two more years. You are crazy to think he is worth a number 6 pick.) As they say the market is never wrong.
I too hope we can move him to Dallas for a good return !
Cheers
Hey Jim,
I just have a moment. But like you and Other Rick, I was astounded by the size of the kids taken in the early portion of the draft. By the sounds of it, most if not all are rare specimens who combine bulk and speed. Wish we could’ve gotten one of ‘em.
Still, it seems like JR and his staff did reasonably well, considering our lack of top picks. They drafted a couple of physical d-men (Hall and Jones), which I was glad to see. I still feel you need a little bite on the backline to be successful.
I give JR lots of credit for being flexible and fluid enough to go off-plan and grab a top player when he sees one (Gustavsson). Hopefully, Bjorkqvist is another Hornqvist in the making … 🙂
While your point about player values is spot-on, a third-round pick for Bennett is just about right in my eyes. Maybe even a little generous, given his health history.
Personally, I’m glad we moved him. Injuries aside, Bennett didn’t seem well suited to Sullivan’s speed-oriented game. While I hope things work out for Beau in Jersey, I don’t see him being any more than a 15-goal scorer even in perfect circumstances (and health). I don’t think the sum of his attributes (skill, smarts, vision) will ever add up to a total package, if that makes any sense.
Hi Rick,
Last October, if we said we were blogging an article about the GM of the Year for 2016, and it would be Jim Rutherford, they would have locked us both up in the local “Funny Farm” are never let us out. But here we are. Jim Rutherford deserved to be GM of the Year in 2016. Sometimes you have to be” Lucky to be good and in most cases you have to be real good to be Lucky”. JR certainly was the latter of the two. Even his acceptance speech had an air of class about it and showed just how professional JR really is.
It surprised me really.
I think he has 1 year left on his contract and I hope he stays around to finish it out because he brings a sense of calm to the organization and Mike Sullivan really enjoys working with him. Maybe, we may just win back to back Cups in 2017. It sure will not be easy as many think because now the real good teams in the league will have a whole year to rebuild their rosters and teams will not be surprised anymore on how fast the Pen’s play the game.
I am hoping to have a miracle at the draft tonight and that we can draft in the top 4th to 6th position. Grab Nail Yakupov ? for 2.8 million this year and the fourth pick of the draft ??? ( Fleury, Bennett and Derrick P. ) .. can only hope.
Glad to have you back.
Cheers
Jim
Hey Jim,
I agree wholeheartedly. After all the flak Rutherford took for his deals at the 2015 trade deadline…not to mention the salary-cap snafu that prohibited the Pens from using a full complement of defensemen…I don’t think anyone could’ve envisioned a turnaround of this magnitude. I sure didn’t.
Yet, JR scored a direct hit on nearly every move he made. From the Kessel and Bonino trades, to signing guys like Cullen and Fehr, to his insightful hiring of Mike Sullivan last summer, to the brilliant acquisitions of Daley and Hagelin. Heck, even those much-maligned deadline deals from last season worked out.
He had a plan and a vision and, God bless him, he stuck to it. My word, what a job he did.
I liked your observations about his acceptance speech. From what I’ve heard, Rutherford’s one of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet. There was an article a little while ago in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, where he was quick to credit his predecessors, Ray Shero and Craig Patrick, for laying the foundation for the Cup win. There’s a graciousness and generosity of spirit about him that just shines through.
Everyone said the same thing about Shero. A class guy, through and through. We’ve been so fortunate to have really good people at the helm.
Like you, I’ll be curious to see what the Pens do today (Draft Day 2)…and come July 1 when the free-agent signing season begins.
If we can keep our defense reasonably intact and/or make a worthwhile addition or two, I like our chances to repeat, too.
Hope you’re enjoying your summer… 🙂