I confess I was a bit surprised to read on Saturday that the Penguins had re-signed restricted free agent defenseman Juuso Riikola to a new two-year deal at an average annual value of $1.15 million.
Not that I don’t applaud the move. I do. I like Riikola…a lot. He’s mobile, plays with a bit of edge and possesses a hard if underutilized shot. It’s just that the coaching staff, or at least the former staff, didn’t seem too enamored of him.
Could this be another instance where there’s a disconnect between coach Mike Sullivan and general manager Jim Rutherford regarding matters of personnel?
Based on Rutherford’s comments when announcing the move, it’s very likely.
“He’s (Riikola’s) done a good job when he’s gone in,” JR said. “I like him. I like him as a person and a player. Maybe this year, he gets more playing time and we can assess him a little more. But he’s a capable NHL player.”
The knock on the 6’0” 189-pounder is that he tends to lose focus in his own end. Which is reportedly why the coaching staff soured on him to the extent that they occasionally played right-hand shots Chad Ruhwedel and Zach Trotman, journeymen both, over the 26-year-old Finn on the left side.
Yet Riikola’s advanced stats tell a very different story. Here’s his rank among the Pens’ top eight time-on-ice defensemen during the past season.
Corsi For%: 53.1% (2nd)
Goals For%: 58.3% (1st)
xGF%: 58.7% (1st)
Scoring Chance %: 57.9% (1st)
High Danger Scoring Chance%: 59% (1st)
5v5 on-ice shooting%: 6.51% (8th)
On-ice save%: 94.6% (1st)
Yes, he received sheltered minutes (a team-low 13:53 ATOI among defensemen) while skating mostly beside Ruhwedel on the third pairing. But his numbers were impressive to say the least.
Perhaps incoming coach Todd Reirden will be able to aid in his development. Too, here’s hoping that sanity wins out and Sullivan and the revamped coaching staff give him a fair shot at regular duty. Which would likely come at the expense of veteran Jack Johnson.
Puckpourri
Trade rumors continue to swirl around Pens goalie Matt Murray. At various times Calgary, Colorado, Minnesota and Toronto have been mentioned as possible destinations for the two-time Cup winner. Edmonton could be a sleeper suitor as well.
Austin Lemieux, Mario’s son, has announced his retirement from hockey to pursue a career in golf.
Pens trade Bjugstad for a conditional 7th and “reportedly” retaining half his salary. Got to say I am not happy about the trade. Don’t get me wrong shedding Bjugstad is fine but splitting the check on his salary, Ouch that hurts.
Hey Kerrdog,
I saw that. Still haven’t seen the full particulars of the deal yet though (what is a conditional 7th round pick? Does that mean it might go up if he actually plays and does well?
I too would have liked to see Biugstad’s salary clear completely, but he only has 1 more year left, so it will only hurt this year. There are lots of discussions already about what that extra $2mil will do? – Sign RFA’s take on salary as part of a trade? Not have to try and trade Hornqvist?
Still haven’t seen anyone note that with the trade for Kapanen and then the trading of Bjugstad this team, the owners said was not allowed to spend more than the mid $70mil range, is still up about $1 million rather than down anything
Rick
i’m also a fan of Riikola but from the little I’ve seen he’s not ready to take
a regular shift on Defense. Just a random thought maybe the Pen’s are
considering trying him on the 4th line – he’s aggressive, he can skate and
he comes at a reasonable price – “Just a random thought”
Hey Rick,
I have heard the Penguins Coaching staff’s excuses for not playing Riikola, but after watching their dissolution of the Penguins over these last 3 seasons, to me the best recommendation a player can get is a negative assessment from Sully and HIS coaches.
For the record I do like that Riikola was re-signed, but I am a bit afraid that he will be over-looked again until Sully is gone. Either that or he may have been re-signed to package him in a trade.
As for Murray, I still say everyone is tradable, but just as with Kessel, I don’t think JR is going to swing a deal that will make the team stronger. A deal here is a high probability, in fact, Kingarski think the deal will be sooner rather than later but just like 99% of the trades and signings JR has managed by himself (sans Botrell) he is going to botch it, either getting way too little in return and/or managing to waste more money on marginal players.
Yeah he really botched the Marino and Petterson deals. Is that 1% of the deals that he made? It is according to you. And show me the proof that [sic Botrell] had anything to do with any trades that were made while he was here. As for dissolution, the Pens finished 7th in the league this year. That’s hardly dissolution.
I had high hopes for this site at first. Rational discussion. Instead you are worse then the adolescents on Hockeysfuture. You are simply an angry man looking for a target form and opinion based on anger and then simply make up absurd evidence to justify it. Valid criticism is one thing, but you just throw tantrums.
Again Stratton Results, Results,
The Penguins have gone backwards year after year for 3 years. Caps beat them in the 2nd round, then the Isles sweep them in the 1st and finally the Habs (24th in the league) dust them before the playoffs start – that is called going backwards.
Pettersson trade may end up being a win if only because Sprong may never get back into the league due to maturity issues, however, the Pettersson extension was shear lunacy and the $4 mil hit he will be this year coming off that pathetic sophomore year has the team handcuffed.
Marino, maybe as I wrote once before, Marino maybe, but after the disappearance of McCann and high probability of being traded as well as the complete 0 that Bjugstad has become with the resultant Buyout talk one year later from their trade, I will wait before I give you Marino.
Now let’s talk about the trade for Reaves then the trading of Cole and Reaves, there are no assets left from that trade. Let’s talk about the Kahun for Rodrigues and Sheary trade, Let’s talk about trading Hagelin, retaining salary and then trying to trade for him back only to be reminded by the league that you aren’t allowed to trade back for players you retained salary on. Let’s talk about the trade for Oleksiak the trade of Oleksiak. Let’s talk about the trade to dump Gudbranson’s salary and the loss of the asset we got in that deal Martinsen. Let’s talk about the Tanner Pearson deal. Let/s Talk about the signing of Derek Grant then trading of him for was it Blandisi then the loss of Blandisi to the Waiver wire. Let’s talk about the Hunwick signing. Let’s talk about the Jack Johnson signing.
If anyone is angry Stratton it is you. You are the one calling names (Adolescent) rather than looking at facts to back up your argument. (If Marino turns out, he becomes the anomaly in a sea of pathos).
Statton
Totally agree with your assessment. First off when trades are made
the Penguins are relying on there Scouting Department and Pro
Personnel staff when making a decision on trades, Draft and FA.
JR – has more than redeemed himself after what we determined was
a poor transaction. Not a GM in Hockey that’s not prone to making
a bad move or two – It goes with the territory.
Some people just like to “Bitch” – Excuse my French
Now that is funny, people complaining about people complaining – that’s not the definition of hypocrisy now is it?
Mike, not going to argue that Scouting Dept et al are involved in making trades – that is a given. Now who is in charge of the Scouting Staff and I don’t mean the head Scout – I am referring to the person who is supposed to ultimately be in charge of the Head Scout – Le directeur général, non (that’s French for GM)? So, if you want to blame the people JR is in charge of, you are blaming JR.
And how has JR redeemed himself. It is not self evident, please explain. Everyone in hockey has come out and said he paid way to much for Kapanen (and I am one who wants Kapanen here – so my bias is for “A” trade). I hope you aren’t suggested that a trade that every hockey person says the Penguins loss is JR’s redemption.
Some people do like to complain. The difference between most of the people on this site and a couple of the ones complaining here is that most of the complaints aren’t simply rants. Most of the people here are tired of backsliding and usually offer (sometimes wildly) options to try rather than continuing on the downward spiral.
Mike as someone working in a Front Office – I understand your loyalty to and defense of others in a Front Office, even when it is highly misplaced.
Stratton, I have no idea why you post in such a bellicose manner.
The Other Rick
It’s okay to complain and have an opinion. What I have a
problem with is you don’t have anything to base your
claims on and by that I mean your not privy to the day to
day stuff that takes place in an organization. None of us are.
You find ways to 2nd guess Sully & JR at every turn – Would I like to have Cole and Reaves back “Hell yes” but
i’m not at the Pen’s practices – no one know’s the players better than Sullivan. If a coach and player don’t get along
then the player has to go – I would think if there was a problem internally especially with our core players Crosby would be speaking up for the good of the team. You will always have personality conflicts but the Coach is the Coach and if he expects you to play a certain way for the team to be successful you either buy in or you’re gone.
In a nutshell here’s the problem I have with attacking
Rutherford – “The Media” who I hate screamed every time
JR tried to address our lack of toughness / grit – First Reaves then Gudbranson.
I could go on and on but I don’t want to beat a dead
horse – bottom line is I believe Rutherford is doing
everything in his power to keep the Pen’s competing
for another cup.
PS – As for the Scouting Department we have no idea
if JR addressed or removed anyone for some of the
player transactions that had been completed. Again
we have no idea what takes place internally – the same
scout that recommended Hunwick may of been
responsible for Marino so do you fire that scout?? It’s
not as cut and dry as you may think.
Mike,
No, I am not routinely at Penguins practices, that is true enough. However, I have eyes to see the results of those practices – further and further away from Cup contention every season, for the last 3 seasons.
I have eyes to see that the coach can’t get along with his players. When it was one player. I was willing to blame the player (Cole), When it was a 2nd player (Sprong – especially Sprong), I was still willing to blame the player. When it turns into Cole, and Kessell, and Malkin, and Letang and on and on, it tells me that it is the coach. (and as mentioned in the past one NYR writer exposed that it it was not Tortorella that the players mutinied against but Sullivan for whom they said they would not play again until he was fired).
Bottom line, if you want to coach, you have to be able to get along with the players at some level at some point, otherwise there is no team to coach.
I also have eyes to see that when, at the start of the season, Sully had his team together the team ran cold. When the injury bug stripped him of the team he wanted the turned white hot. When HIS team got healthy again and he re-inserted them into the lineup, they went cold again.
Given the above results, I don’t have to be at the practices, or in the locker room to now have no faith in Sullivan’s decisions. If Sullivan deserved anyone’s trust, the team would not have almost been swept by the Montreal Canadiens.
As for the media, I don’t trust or care about them either. Most of the time they are nothing more than a PR service. They don’t ask the hard questions. And although I too screamed when the Penguins traded for Reaves, if you go back, my complaint was that he was never going to get used and they were just throwing away assets.
I too want the team to get tougher, but it ain’t a happenin’ until Sully is gone. Until then it will be as 55 on point wrote – Smurf City.
As for JR trying to do everything in his power to get another Cup – the sad thing is I do believe you are right – I do believe in his mind, JR thinks what he is doing IS right, but his recent track record tells a completely different story.
Finally, as for the scout who Scouted Marino, it was Kevin Stevens. (Kingarski reported that on Apr 21 of this year on PHN). Stevens didn’t come to the Penguins as a Scout until Sept 8 of 2017 according to NHL.com and Hunwick was signed on July 1, 2017, 2 months and 1 week earlier. Maybe he did recommend him unofficially, but he wasn’t doing it as a scout.
The Other Rick
We can agree to disagree. I don’t see several of
JR’s moves in a bad light. Kessel and Sprong had
to go regardless of the return and hopefully in
the very near future Letang is relocating.
My comment regarding the scouting department was just an analogy – I was creating a scenario on how things can evolve.
Mike,
We actually agree on pretty much everything except on the Coach and GM. For the most part we want a grittier more balanced team.
I even believe everyone is tradable for the right price. Therefore I am not that upset with and would have been okay with the Kessel trade Had JR managed a better return. Every article I have read agrees that the Pens lost that trade. I would still have been okay the the deal if JR would have cut his losses and just lost Galchenyuk to FA hoping that POJ would eventually pan out.
However, I am taking a wait and see attitude with Zucker, he has been solid in the first half of every season he has played but fades near the end and disappears in the Playoffs and the team’s record since he has gotten here has been miserable. He never seemed to gel with Crosby or Malkin and 2 – $5 million players on the 3rd line is extremely expensive.
Sprong, he does have top end talent and bottom end maturity. His trade was a small win for the team only with regards to the fact that Sully was never going to play him and Sprong himself still hasn’t grown up. Giving Pettersson a $4 million extension putting him up with Dumoulin was a joke though.
As for Letang, he is the only Penguins D man with any sand but he is also usually the best offensive weapon both the Penguins and their opponent have on the ice.
I understand the sentiment of keeping him around since he was part of the 3 for 4 Cup teams but I would have traded him several years back. His trade is long overdue. Had he been traded several years back for picks or prospects we may not be having this conversation. The Pens may still be in the Playoffs. At least there would be a chance that their finances/Cap wouldn’t be so bleak.