I dropped the ball at the half-point of the season. I got too busy and never had a chance to give my mid-season grades for the team. Now with only a handful of games left, I decided to do a series of articles giving my final grades for the team. Since we are now past the trade deadline and there is little a GM can do, I figured I would start here. Hopefully, no one will mind if I start this series now.
GM Jim Rutherford a C-
After a 2 year run of always seeming to make the right moves, the Penguins’ GM struggled this season. Over the last couple of months leading up to the trade deadline, he did make a bit of a comeback. However, the hole he dug himself starting way back at the last trade deadline was very, very deep.
Nobody can be expected to work 365 days a year. Everybody needs some vacation time. Everybody needs time to decompress. And let’s face it, Jim Rutherford, architect of the Penguins’ repeat Stanley Cup Championships, has earned himself a break. I wouldn’t begrudge him that. However, a 4 month hiatus, watching the team battle through the playoffs last year, may have been a bit too much.
After the trade deadline there isn’t much a GM can do to help his team during the current season, but that doesn’t mean that the GM can take the rest of the year off. That doesn’t mean that a GM can rest on his laurels until draft day or the first day of free agency. A 2, 3, or even 4 week vacation could be very reasonable, after the trade deadline passes. When April comes, though, it is time for a GM to start setting his team up for the next season.
Perhaps Rutherford did try and do just this (set the team up for the 2017-18 season). Unfortunately, there is no evidence to support that premise.
While (Sidney) Crosby and Co. chased that repeat Cup, it appears that Rutherford slept. There was no shortage of pending free agents (unrestricted UFA and restricted RFA) among the regular contributing players on last season’s roster. As the clock wound down and the curtain fell with the raising of the Cup, there was apparently no thought given to, or contingency plan made, for life without Nick Bonino, Matt Cullen, Trevor Daley, Chris Kunitz, or Ron Hainsey, as evidenced by the frantic running around like a chicken without its head opening day of free agency. Worse than that, Rutherford basically told those players to go look elsewhere, he wasn’t interested in talking to them.
Now I am not going to argue that the Penguins needed to keep any single one of those players. With so many teams learning from and copying the Penguins’ formula, team speed has become a must and would seem to preclude so many older players, even faster ones like Daley. Also, looking at what these players are doing this year, it may have been better that the Penguins let them go. The real problem came when they were replaced by the likes of Greg McKegg, Matt Hunwick and Antti Niemi. With all of the UFA out there; Dan Girardi, Andrei Markov to name two, all Rutherford was able to sign were 2 players no longer on the team – and one who is finally where he belongs, riding the bench.
Adding to this insult, Rutherford then turned around and paid Las Vegas a draft pick to take the best goalie in the expansion draft. Don’t get me wrong, as much as I like Marc-Andre Fleury, with the reality of modern hockey (from a financial/cap perspective) exposing Fleury to the draft was the right call, even with Vegas taking him. The problem comes with the Penguins ceding a draft pick to ensure this.
In a knee-jerk reaction to the playoff goon tactics inflicted upon the Penguins by their opponents, Rutherford went out and threw away a first round pick as well as an afterthought Center for pugilist extraordinaire Ryan Reaves. For a team that had a plethora of Right Wings (RW), Rutherford added another RW. With a quality young defenseman (Nicholas Hague) sitting out there waiting to be drafted and the Penguins in desperate need of quality Defensemen, Rutherford added to an area of strength while although not taking from an area of weakness, ignoring a chance to strengthening that weakness.
Making matters worse, the agent of rookie defenseman phenom, Will Butcher, just about begged Rutherford to come talk to him. He stated publicly that Butcher would be willing to make some concessions to be part of the Penguins. Unfortunately, Rutherford again showed no interest. Now Butcher is plying his trade against the Penguins for a team that seems to have the Penguins numbers this year, the New Jersey Devils.
Last I looked at Butcher, he has played 73 games, scored 3 goals and added 33 helpers while holding his +/- to even. Not bad for a rookie, left handed, D man on a young club, clawing its way out of obscurity. He is only 5’-10”, not my ideal defenseman, but compared to Matt Hunwick, Butcher’s performance is far and above.
As for Nicolas Hague (the player I advocated that the Penguins draft), he has played 67 games for Mississauga of the OHL notching 35 goals and adding 43 assists en route to a +2. More importantly, he is 6’-6” 214lbs, has collected 102 PIM this and also a left handed shot.
How good would both of those players look right now on the Penguins roster or in their organization?
Rutherford did resign RFAs Justin Schultz and Brain Dumoulin which did mitigate some of the really bad moves mentioned above, until the resigning of Conor Sheary for $3 million then sent the off-season back down into the Marianas Trench.
The only reason I do not give Rutherford a completely failing grade this year is that once the season started, he did begin digging the team out of the off-season hole. Although I wasn’t a fan of the Sheahan-Wilson trade when it happened, Riley Sheahan had really come into his own just prior to the trade deadline, including making some really sweet moves to score goals. Although I am pulling for him, the dumping of Derrick Pouliot was another positive move by Rutherford. Even if Andrey Pedan doesn’t work out, Pouliot was not going anywhere here and was taking up a contract spot. Furthermore, I do think if Mike Sullivan gives him a chance, Pedan will prove an asset to not only Wilkes-Barre Scranton, like he has this year, but to the big club as well. Finally, Rutherford’s dealing for Jamie Oleksiak at the behest of Sergei Gonchar was perhaps his (Rutherford’s) best move this year.
I do like Derick Brassard and think he may still show his benefit to the club and although the loss of Ian Cole and Ryan Reaves is most certainly weighing this club down, I don’t want to blame Rutherford on this one. It would seem that in the case of Cole, he was just doing what Mike Sullivan wanted him to do. And in the case of Ryan Reaves, from what I have heard, it was the league that forced the Penguins to add Reaves to the trade, saying the Penguins weren’t giving up enough.
The past is the past. Rutherford can’t fix things this year, but I sure hope he learns that he can’t wait until draft day to start working this year.
Hi,
Frankly, I kind change my opinion on Rutherford after looking back at all the games and the game from last night. Rutherford deserves a D- and Sullivan deserves a D- as well.
Last night loss was the last straw for me. Penguins only had a ok good run when Cole and Reaves were in the lineup for a month. Rutherford fail this season coaching staff fail harder. Very concerning. I believe players like Cole and Reaves you need especially Cole.
If Coaching staff would have line combos and stop the pinching with 5 man aware defensively sound unit on the ice.
Guentzel-Crosby -Sprong (Simon)
Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel
Rust-Brassard-Hornqvist
(Sheary) Kuhnhackl-Sheahan-Resse ( Rowney)
I think Brassard and Kessel are not great together especially with Sheary Maybe with Resse who is a ok effective 3rd liner. Not a top 6 player.
I think Penguins are better with Kessel -Malkin with defensively sound Hagelin who bring time and space. Brassard needs to be his own man on his line.
Sheahan should come up with Crosby from time to time for more minutes if Sully going only play him 10 mins. He deserves more time . IMO. I prefer Dumoulin-Shultz to run defense with reduced Letang with Big Rig to 17 minutes against opponents bottom lines. I feel better when Letang doesn’t open even play with Crosby and Malkin because they get to have better ways to get to the offense.
Penguins are not the same team from what I have observed this season.
Consistently inconsistent.
It’s big problems on this team and within the personnel decisions.
Murray having a challenging hard season. Defense has been awful all season.
People are consistently not telling it like it is with Letang (all the time) where Penguins lost points because of his play early on til now (Sully was to focus of getting him going instead changing the D to be better) and Sully bad personnel decisions with lines and Ian Cole.
Yes. He’s gone . I hate it .
Crosby’s line was setup like a third line while only great consistent top line was Malkin’s line all season. Letting Sheary and Letang weigh it down . Crosby constantly playing in the Dzone . Players are not responsible back. Absolutely no resilience. I missed dominanting Penguins or just Penguins who came back back any deficit to win a game.
Rick Tocchet is sorely missed. I don’t care. Sully is good coach but Tocchet made him great than what he is. Kind.IMO. Reechi and Sully are not great together. Tocchet understood players more and they responded better with him. He didn’t had no ego or favoritism . He made great game adjustments during the game and in the intermission with Sully. He help players wake up and play fun hockey etc.. Penguins hasn’t being play that all season.
Penguins wins hasn’t be great or even dominant. Very ugly inconsistent wins all season. Uninspired hockey. No urgency. No consistency. No fiery.
Sheary shouldn’t be in the lineup. It’s been evident all season. Train wreck.
I love Guentzel he doing well back almost to his old self but he needs to stop beating himself up that cause him to be little bad defensively. He’s getting hit to much try make plays . He needs to bulk up to take hits like that . I think he wants to stay Crosby and that why he plays like that. I hope stays on Crosby’s line.
Brassard is hurt. I guess Sheary will be in the lineup. Jorris is a good player . I like his game . I don’t like it. Line combos will be frustrating again. I’m just unsure right now. If Sullivan gonna keep Sheary in the lineup then Sheahan 3C)should be flank with Sheary-Hornqvist or Simon- Hornqvist.
I hope they can get it together with last games . Idk .
That’s my stupid rant.
Hey tOR,
Woeful is the only word I can conjure. Even their recent wins, over mediocre teams, have been skin-of-the-teeth, nails-bitten-to-the-quick ugly.
I don’t know what else to say. Everyone can see this isn’t the same team we were watching in January and February. It isn’t the same team it was before the deadline. They obviously under-valued a certain defensman by more than a smidgen, and I believe everyone knows why. I hope someone will apologize to his team when this I-awoke-in-a-sweat dream ends, probably much sooner than previously anticipated.
As for JR, his report card won’t be quite the gold-star-laden version of the two previous years. I’m sure by now he knows it. C-minus is about right, and much kinder than the D-plus I would have awarded him.
Looking forward to the rest of your series, while waiting for the return of Sprong to Sid’s line. 😏
— 55
Wow 55,
Excellent assessment and very visceral. You are right about those skin-of-the-teeth wins. The team wallowing. Their is no fire in them and that fire may have been dowsed, not from within any single player but from some the personnel decisions made and being made.
In the first period, I thought I was going to have to write a bit of a mea culpa after watching Sheary fly back into the D zone and help Murray deny the Wings that break away but then a round the 8 minute mark I wrote it down on a single shift I watched 2 Wings bully the puck off of Sheary to break up an attack, knocking him to the ice and have him kneel there searching for blood on his face to whine at an official and then again, once he got back into the Defensive Zone after his prolonged absence from the beating he took in the O-Zone, he did start to help back check, but before he could affect the break-out the Wings once again bullied the puck off of him and kept up the zone time.
Why is he still in there. Aston-Reese is back. If Sullivan still refuses to use the 3rd best RW in the system, after the latest debacle, at least move Simon into Sheary’s position. He isn’t much bigger than Sheary, but he is a lot stronger on the puck and has more moves in the O-Zone.
The big question now is how long will Brassard be out. Not only are the Pens w/out Cole and Reaves, they are now w/out the player they traded for. Sheahan was playing really well before the trade and hopefully he can get back to it rapidly when his ice-time goes back up, but I am not all that sold on Jooris yet. I would like to see him return to his rookie season but his play in WBS hasn’t been all that great.
Rutherford, should go. Not entirely due to his poor trading at the deadline, which I think factors in. But the Matt Murry concussion, if Murry doesn’t turn things around, which he seems to be very different in net, now. He doesn’t seem to be on, he is out of position in very odd ways and he seems to be playing in a way that didn’t before. He doesn’t seem as sharp as he was, and it is really sad too see it happen to such a young guy with great talent. A hit in the head can mess you up big time.
Also what is with the choice of Casey Desmith. He is o.k. but he reminds me of Wendel Young. O.k. but I really think Jarry is better but he is no Barrasso , Fluery or Murry. I think he is a step above DeSmith and the Penguins really don’t seem to like him. They really need him and they should stick with him because calling him up and then throwing the guy back down to minors all the time will wear on him. He’s better than the Penguins let him be. The stats don’t lie. DeSmith is just above .500 but with a slightly better save percentatge. DeSmith can postion himself well, but he’s a bit slow and teams seem to find a weakness on him at times.
And without the toughness and strong D, and if Murry is really off the mark, you’ll need someone who is more than DeSmith.
Hi wirewrapper,
Rutherford certainly dropped the ball this past off-season, however, I am not sure that I would just dump him unceremoniously. It is true that not only did he let go, thus creating holes in the roster, he then went out and created bigger holes by signing players who have skills less than players who already were here in the system or may have some skill but just don’t fit the team. Jarry and DeSmith have shown themselves better than Niemi, at least for this team.
As well as Niemi has played for Mon, he may not be completely washed up, but he certainly didn’t fit here and the team would have been better to start the season with DeSmith or Jarry. Both out played Niemi in the preseason, so it goes to show that the pressure to win was so high to start the season that even Sullivan screwed up by thinking he had to go with the more experienced G rather than the one that was playing better. I have more to say on that subject will hold on for now.
But speaking of DeSmith v Jarry, I hear what you are saying, Jarry has shown to be the better goalie, but the idea behind using DeSmith as Murray’s backup is a sound one. Jarry is down in WBS playing regularly, not sitting on the bench so his skills don’t rust. I would be surprised if Jarry doesn’t get the call during the play-offs as the back-up.
Let’s face it, regardless of the goalie; Murray, Jarry, DeSmith, all three have stolen several games. The real defensive problem is just that D. There are just too many odd man breaks and players standing around in front of Penguin Goalies. Even last night; Clendening all by himself in front of Murray to tip the puck between Murray’s legs?, come one, no one on him?, Daren Helm all alone at the bottom of the RW circle – back door. Kronwell’s opening tally was similar, sneaking in – uncovered. Yes Murray has stopped many similar shots to those, but eventually, when you give up enough of those types of shots, the other team will find the range.
If Detroit – a cellar dweller team could skate rings around our Penguins in their own building, imagine what Tampa Bay will do, should we get that far. At the rate the Penguins are limping, they will more than likely need to win on the road in all of their playoff series.
I’m still hate the fact that Sprong is not up on Crosby’s line. I have gotten so many reasons why he isn’t up here with Crosby. Big elephant in the room .
I keep going lthink he would have develop his game with Crosby during February and this month before playoffs. I dislike it.
I wish it was a longer Leash h or patience to let him process the transition in Nhl . Especially with no permanent great RW for Crosby going on the Playoffs. Only one I can think that will be a great fit is Simon. I don’t like Resse there . He’s great and unbelievable. I don’t see him keep up (open space etc )with Crosby nor being the player that Crosby needs with Speed. I want Rust but every time they try to bring themselves with something Sully changes it.
I hear what you are saying Dee.
I’ll be addressing the Elephant in the room soon. I want to hold off until closer to the weekend.
I do agree, the Pens would be at their strongest offensively w/Crosby – Guentzel – Sprong.
The biggest problem facing the Pens is their D as you mention below. Their D was weak last year; it took incredible goaltending from both MAF and Murray. When the D finally wore out MAF, the Pens were able to lean on Murray. This year the D is worse. I am sorry, after giving up 45 shots on goal last game, for me it is well past time to press the panic button. The Pens are going to miss Cole big time.
Hey,
Nice . Always honest and straight to the point.
Yes . The past is past.
I’m still kind mad at some things he did but it is what it is.
Main focus is Pens being better defensively (team effort and team defense)and bringing that intensity level with Murray finding his way Back above average goaltending in this last couple of games.
I hope and pray during the free agency and draft day comes Rutherford handle his business better than this season.
In my opinion, its
time upgrade and revamp the defense and find a solid cheap depth goalie behind Murray so Jarry can finish his development in WBS.
Sheary, Letang and Hunwick shall be gone this summer. Whatever decent good return he can get for them and Sprong needs to be Crosby’s right wing with Jake Guentzel. It’s time to let go of Letang for the betterment of the team . Free cap space and bring at least two young reasonable and reliable Defensemen.
I wish we can get Drew Doughty.
I really think Dumoulin, Shultz and Määttä can be top players on defense with Big Rig and great replacements for D depth. I foresee Penguins can still win at least 2 cups before Crosby and Malkin retiring in about 5 years -7 years. They have enough in the tank to do so especially how they take of themselves, their work ethic and the organization can keep wingers that keep them going while providing consistency.
I believe Rutherford will do hell of job this coming summer. Fingers Crossed.
Great as always ToR,
Just a quick Sprong update. He has played 3 games since he “Needed to see the game from a different prospective”. He had 2 goals 2 assist and was a +5, not to mention a SO goal as well. Now wouldn’t it be nice if we just had a guy in our system that could play on Sids wing??? Where could we find I guy??? I wonder????
Thanks Kerdog,
I did see what Sprong has done. I have tried not to continue to address that elephant in the room these last couple of weeks, but will be bringing it back up as I go thru my review of the team with this series of articles, including what my mole said is the organizations (alleged) “reason” for Sprong’s WBS banishment.
It looks like you have been following WBS too. Did you notice how when Pedan was out of the line-up they were, well, average but have been getting it back together with Pedan coming back and being paired with Bengtsson?
I would love to get over to Wilkes-Barre to see them actually play now that they are back. I liked what I saw of Bengtsson during the Prospects Tournament, Training Camp, and the Preseason, but I still haven’t actually watched Pedan play to form a solid opinion yet.
Hey ToR,
I can’t wait to read your taught’s on the subject. As I said in my reply to you last week I have heard all the theories on why hes not up, but the one I believe is Sully just does not like the kid. I am fine with that but do not let him just twist in the wind, use him to get something in return. I just don’t want another Pouliot situation. Speaking of Pouliot I would love to see Pedan get a shot. The kid is big strong and nasty!! I doubt he gets a chance this year but next year he would make a nice 6/7 guy. I keep pretty close tabs on WBS but haven’t got out to see them in person this year. I stream some games though, and when Pedan wasn’t hurt he was a beast. I will say he takes some unnecessary penalties.