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+
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