I confess. I’m pretty much runnin’ on empty in terms of finding new stuff to write about. With NHL players and owners haggling over deferred salaries and details of the upcoming season clear as mud, I thought I’d take a step in the opposite direction and evaluate general manager Jim Rutherford’s moves on a season-by-season basis. The 2014-15 season will be the first installment in a six-part series.
Some ground rules before I begin. Since I’m focusing on players JR added to the organization through trades or free-agent signings, I won’t include RFA signings or contract extensions for players who were drafted by the Pens.
To gain a proper perspective, we first need to revisit the end of the Ray Shero era. Despite a slew of injuries, the Penguins captured the Metropolitan Division crown in 2013-14 while finishing with the second-best record in club history to date (51-24-7, 109 points).
They survived a brutal opening-round series with an extremely physical Columbus squad and promptly went up three-games-to-one on the Rangers. Then they collapsed, losing three-straight while scoring only three goals. In the process sending seismic shock waves through the organization.
Dismayed by five-straight early playoff exits to lower seeds, owners Ron Burkle and Mario Lemieux did the unthinkable. They fired Shero, who’d been named General Manager of the Year only 11 months earlier.
While explaining their rationale for the dismissal, the Pens’ brass repeatedly cited the club’s lack of “grit and character.”
Into the maelstrom stepped Rutherford, who’d been nudged out of the GM post in Carolina and booted upstairs following a string of non-playoff seasons.
Displaying his trademark boldness, he wasted little time in following what appeared to be a set-in-stone mandate from Burkle and Lemieux. Three weeks into his tenure he dealt scoring winger James Neal to Nashville for forwards Nick Spaling and Patric Hornqvist…grit and character personified.
It was an auspicious first trade to say the least. Hornqvist would change the culture of the dressing room in a way few others have, to say nothing of his productive and borderline maniacal play on the ice.
The hard-driving Swede wasn’t JR’s only aggressive addition. He inked feisty free-agent forwards Steve Downie and Blake Comeau to bookend the third line. The former provided a little too much bite for coach Mike Johnston’s taste, piling up a league-leading 238 penalty minutes (14 goals, too) while frequently occupying MJ’s doghouse.
In-season trade acquisitions Rob Klinkhammer, Maxim Lapierre and Daniel Winnik also added size and muscle…but little else. Early in the new year Klinkhammer and a first-round pick were parlayed into scoring winger David Perron, who notched a piping-hot nine goals in his first 16 games with the black and gold before turning stone cold (only three in his final 27).
However, JR appeared to reverse his course…and lay the foundation for future personnel decisions…with two shocking trades at the deadline. He dealt twin pillars Simon Despres and Robert Bortuzzo…the Pens’ most physical defensemen…for Ben Lovejoy and Ian Cole. Although the acquisitions were wildly unpopular at the time, Cole and Lovejoy would prove to be vital cogs on Cup-winning teams.
Still, the wheeling and dealing did little to improve the team at the time. Decimated by injuries and hamstrung by salary-cap issues that restricted call-ups from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Pens finished Rutherford’s inaugural season on a 4-9-2 plunge, barely scraping into the playoffs on the last day of the season. They were quickly dispatched by the Rangers in five games.
TRADES
|
Date |
Team |
Acquired |
Traded |
Rating |
|
Jun. 27, 2014 |
Nashville |
Patric Hornqvist (rw), Nick Spaling (c) |
James Neal (rw) |
A: Hornqvist a driving force for two Cups. |
|
Dec. 5, 2014 |
Arizona |
Rob Klinkmammer (lw), Future considerations |
Philip Samuelsson (ld) |
C: Swap of journeymen. |
|
Jan. 2, 2015 |
Edmonton |
David Perron (lw) |
Rob Klinkmammer (lw) 1st round pick 2015 |
B: Perron led to Carl Hagelin. |
|
Jan. 27, 2015 |
St. Louis |
Maxim Lapierre (c) |
Marcel Goc (c) |
D: Goc provided little, Lapierre less. |
|
Feb. 25, 2015 |
Toronto |
Daniel Winnik (lw) |
Zach Sill (c), 4th round pick 2015, 2nd round pick 2016 |
C-: Winnik ok, but a steep price. |
|
Mar. 2, 2015 |
Anaheim |
Ben Lovejoy (rd) |
Simon Despres (ld) |
B: Lovejoy helped win a Cup. |
|
Mar. 2, 2015 |
St. Louis |
Ian Cole (ld) |
Robert Bortuzzo (rd), 7th round pick 2016 |
A-: Cole gritty backline anchor for Cup teams. |
FREE AGENT/WAIVERS
|
Date |
Old Team |
Free Agent |
Contract |
Rating |
|
Jul. 1, 2014 |
Buffalo |
Christian Ehrhoff (ld) |
1 year, $4 million |
C+: Concussion wrecked Ehrhoff’s season. |
|
Jul. 1, 2014 |
Columbus |
Blake Comeau (lw) |
1 year, $700 thousand |
B: Comeau a pleasant surprise until wrist injury. |
|
Jul. 1, 2014 |
Phoenix |
Thomas Greiss (g) |
1 year, $1 million |
C: Solid backup didn’t shine. |
|
Jul. 1, 2014 |
St. Louis |
Taylor Chorney (ld) |
1 year, $550 thousand |
B-: Decent depth defenseman. |
|
Jul. 2, 2014 |
Philadelphia |
Steve Downie (rw) |
1 year, $1 million |
C+: Penalties a problem. |
|
Jul. 15, 2014 |
Baby Pens (AHL) |
Bobby Farnham (rw) |
1 year, $550 thousand |
C: All grit, heart and energy, but little skill. |
|
Jan. 14, 2015 |
Nashville |
Mark Arcobello (rw) |
Claimed on waivers, Claimed on waivers by Arizona, Feb. 11, 2015 |
C: Unproductive, but 59.9 Corsi. |
OVERALL GRADE: C+
How is the world is signing Comeau not an A+?
Hey Stratton,
You convinced me to bump Comeau’s grade up to a B. He really did play well through the early going…skating with Evgeni Malkin for a time as I recall. The wrist injury did seem to hamper him after a great start (15 goals in 43 games).
However, he finished the season stone-cold (one goal, two assists in his last 18 games). So no A+.
Rick
Hey Rick,
After ruminating over this article, I would have to agree with most of your grades, differing only in small degrees.
Although I do agree with your grades on Samuelsson to Klinkhammer to Perron (C and B respectively), but that is only because of the benefit of hindsight with Hagelin being the end product of the trades. Otherwise I would grade them D and C.
At the time of the Winnik trade I was looking forward to getting him, but again with the benefit of hindsight I would actually drop this grade to D. This may have been the trade that finally soured me on trade deadline rentals.
I would have loved to have seen the Pens get Lovejoy without giving up Despres. I still wonder how good he would have become had he not had that concussion – He was able to carry Scuderi on his back and make him look like he could still play in the NHL, but you do need to give up something to get something. (I do agree with your grade)
As for Cole, I doubt the team wins either of its Cups without him, so I give this trade an A. I don’t think you need to get a 50G scorer to get an A grade.
I had higher hopes for Ehrhoff, Comeau, and Downey, but by the way things played out, I agree roughly C – C+s.
Griess, I thought he played very well and for the price tag, I may have given this one a B.
Chorney? Sorry, I wasn’t all that impressed. Granted he didn’t cost much, but I would have given this a C.
Arcobeelo? Yawn, not impressed by him. I give this one a D.
Not that much different than your grades
Now to start thinking about your next post.
” I still wonder how good he would have become had he not had that concussion –”
“He was able to carry Scuderi on his back and make him look like he could still play in the NHL,”
Ah, the legend of Simon Despres. Fact is that he was terrible for the Pens. The revisionist history on him is rampant. He couldn’t carry anyone because he was awful. When he wasn’t out of shape, get was taking unnecessary penalties. He goes to Anaheim and played reasonably well for 16 games, and has an OK playoff. Suddenly he’s a star. The following year he stunk, even before being gone for the season. Getting Lovejoy for him was highway robbery – and not because Lovejoy was that great.
In 2014-2015, during 5 on 5 situations;
Scuderi with Despres – TOI: 627:24, CORSI 52.04%, TGF% 59.52
Scuderi without Despres – TOI: 236:48, CORSI 48.47%, TGF%53.33
Nick Spaling (2nd most TOI)
Spaling with Despres – TOI: 242:49, CORSI: 56.85%, TGF%: 55.14
Spaling without Despres – TOI: 621:22, CORSI: 49.77, TGF%: 54.84
This is a common theme among the players that played more than 150 minutes with Despres. Only Malkin and Crosby had slightly better CORSI without Despres. As for GF%, even Crosby benefited from playing with Despres TGF% with Despres 63.16 compared to without 55.10.
I know I said I wasn’t going to read your posts and I wouldn’t have had I looked first to see who wrote this but now that I am replying, I am not stopping. Objective evidence, shows Despres WAS a benefit to the players he played with and that he DID carry Scuderi. Your subjective observations are inconsequential.
Hey Stratton,
I’m with Other Rick on this one. My enduring memory was watching Scuderi make lateral passes to Despres, putting the onus on the big guy to exit our zone. Which, again going by memory, he seemed to do pretty effectively.
I also liked his size and willingness to battle and was intrigued by his potential.
Despres did fall into a bit of a funk in January, going minus-7 over a six-game stretch, but righted himself prior to being traded.
After a strong playoff with the Ducks in 2015, they signed him to a five-year extension with an AAV of $3.7 million…pretty good money back then. So they must’ve thought they had something. Then came the concussion and he was never the same.
As an aside…and who knows if it was really true…I’d heard that Despres was a little bit of an odd duck (pun intended) and that he wasn’t especially popular with his teammates.
By contrast, Lovejoy (and Ian Cole for that matter) was very outgoing and popular. So maybe a case of JR trying to change the mix in the locker room as well as on the ice.
Rick