Following two masterful seasons at the Penguins’ helm, GM Jim Rutherford’s performance slipped in 2017-18. Indeed, he appeared to have entered the offseason in a sort of celebratory state of inertia following the Pens’ back-to-back Cups. Very human and perfectly understandable.
Too, with pricey new contracts to negotiate for pending RFAs Brian Dumoulin, Matt Murray, Justin Schultz and Conor Sheary, JR could do little but bid adieu to many of the battle-hardened veterans who helped capture the Cups.
As a result, Nick Bonino, Matt Cullen, Trevor Daley, Ron Hainsey and Chris Kunitz signed with other teams. Mark Streit retired. Franchise icon Marc-Andre Fleury departed for Vegas in the expansion draft.
Needless to say, the Pens had hemorrhaged a huge chunk of grit, character and leadership.
Rutherford planned to fill some of the slots from within the organization. His few moves over the summer to bring in outside talent raised eyebrows. On June 23, he peddled third-line center-in-waiting Oskar Sundqvist and a first-round pick to St. Louis for heavyweight hit man Ryan Reaves and a second-round pick.
Rather than re-sign Hainsey, who agreed to a two-year deal with Toronto for $6 million, JR gambled on journeyman Matt Hunwick, inking him for 3 years at $6.75 million. Forced to scour the bargain-basement bin, he also imported retread Greg McKegg to fill one of the bottom-six center slots and former Cup-winning goalie Antti Niemi to back up Murray, a noble but ultimately disastrous experiment that lasted all of three games.
Hardly inspired work, although to be fair he faced severe cap restrictions.
Taking their cue from GMJR, the Pens slogged through the first three months of the season at a pedestrian 19-18-3 clip.
Rutherford sprang to action. On October 21, he dealt grinder Scott Wilson to Detroit for Riley Sheahan, no world-beater but a decided upgrade over McKegg. Two months later he acquired the “Big Rig,” Jamie Oleksiak, a physical 6’7” defenseman who could play either side.
Suddenly, the Pens rediscovered their mojo. Starting with a 5-1 shellacking of the Flyers on January 2, the team ripped through a 21-game stretch at an incendiary 16-4-1 clip. Unthinkable months earlier, a three-peat suddenly seemed a real possibility.
Then Rutherford reached for the brass ring…literally. In the mega-deal of the trade deadline he acquired Derick Brassard and a third-round pick from Ottawa for defensive stalwart Ian Cole, goaltending prospect Filip Gustavsson and first- and third-round picks.
In a related move, Reaves was air-mailed to Vegas along with a fourth-round pick for what amounted to cap relief.
The impetus for the trades was sound and even admirable. Although Sheahan was emerging, Rutherford felt the club needed to be deeper down the middle. Brassard was a solid, skilled, two-way center who could kick in on the power play. Nicknamed “Big Game Brass,” he was a clutch playoff performer as well.
JR no doubt had dreams of a revamped HBK Line dancing in his head.
What he got was something less. Brassard displayed little chemistry with new linemates Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel, nor did he embrace his third-line role. In hindsight, the Pens got Brassard precisely when his play began to slip.
A gamble that decidedly didn’t pay off.
Worse, Cole’s departure left a gaping hole on the blue line. Coach Mike Sullivan tried unsuccessfully to plug the gap with Hunwick before settling on spare d-man Chad Ruhwedel.
Likewise, the Pens couldn’t replace Reaves’ muscle and swagger. He and Cole likely would’ve come in handy during the black-and-gold’s second-round loss to the rugged Capitals.
JR’s grade? An A for effort. But in terms of execution…C+.
TRADES
|
Date |
Team |
Acquired |
Traded |
Rating |
|
Jun. 23, 2017 |
St. Louis |
Ryan Reaves (rw), 2nd round pick in 2017 |
Oskar Sundqvist (c), 1st round pick 2017 |
C+: Sullivan never gave Reavo a chance. |
|
Oct. 21, 2017 |
Detroit |
Riley Sheahan (c) |
Scott Wilson (lw), 3rd round pick in 2018 |
B: Sheahan played well until bumped aside by Brassard. |
|
Dec. 19, 2017 |
Arizona |
Michael Leighton (g), 4th round pick in 2019 |
Josh Archibald (rw), Sean Maguire (g), 6th round pick in 2019 |
B: Archibald fast and feisty, but salary dump paved the way to acquire Oleksiak. |
|
Dec. 19, 2017 |
Dallas |
Jamie Oleksiak (ld) |
4th round (conditional) pick in 2019 |
B+: “Big Rig” and Cole formed a solid third pair until the latter was dealt. |
|
Feb. 23, 2018 |
Ottawa |
Derick Brassard (c), Vincent Dunn (c), 3rd round pick in 2018 |
Ian Cole (ld), Filip Gustavsson (g), 1st round pick in 2018, 3rd round pick in 2019 |
C-: Great on paper, not-so-hot on the ice. |
|
Feb. 23, 2018 |
Vegas |
Tobias Lindberg (lw) |
Ryan Reaves (rw), 4th round pick in 2018 |
F: Salary dump stripped Pens of muscle and swagger. |
|
Feb. 26, 2018 |
Carolina |
Josh Jooris (c) |
Greg McKegg (c) |
C: Swap of spare parts. |
FREE AGENT/WAIVERS
|
Date |
Old Team |
Free Agent |
Contract |
Rating |
|
Jun. 22, 2017 |
Pittsburgh |
Chad Ruhwedel (rd) |
2 years, $650 thousand (AAV) |
B-: Depth defender assumed expanded role in playoffs. |
|
Jun. 30, 2017 |
Baby Pens (AHL) |
Garrett Wilson (lw) |
2 years, $650 (AAV) |
C+: Emerged as gritty role player for Pens in 2018-19 |
|
Jul. 1, 2017 |
Dallas |
Antti Niemi (g) |
1 year, $700 thousand |
F: Disastrous signing. |
|
Jul. 1, 2017 |
Toronto |
Matt Hunwick (ld) |
3 years, $2.25 million (AAV) |
F: See Niemi. |
|
Jul. 1, 2017 |
Baby Pens (AHL) |
Casey DeSmith (g) |
2 years, $675 thousand (AAV) |
A-: Solid backup. |
|
Jul. 1, 2017 |
Tampa Bay |
Greg McKegg (c) |
1 year, $650 thousand |
C-: “Kegger” went dry. |
|
Jul. 1, 2017 |
Pittsburgh |
Tom Sestito (lw) |
1 year, $650 thousand |
C+: Popular tough guy protected Baby Pens. |
|
Jul. 1, 2017 |
Los Angeles |
Zach Trotman (rd) |
1 year, $650 thousand |
B-: Dependable depth d-man. |
|
Jul. 1, 2017 |
Minnesota-Duluth (NCHC) |
Adam Johnson (c) |
2 years, $925 thousand (AAV) |
C+: Speedy forward never got a chance to shine. |
|
Aug. 21, 2017 |
Pittsburgh |
Jean-Sebastien Dea (c) |
1 year, $650 thousand |
C+: AHL depth forward. |
|
Oct. 24, 2017 |
Pittsburgh |
Antti Niemi (g) |
Claimed on waivers by Florida |
A: Addition by subtraction. |
OVERALL GRADE: C+
Hey all,
A little flash. The Baby Pens signed forward Jordan Nolan on Saturday. He’s a 31-year-old, eight-year NHL vet who filled a fourth-line role for the Kings, Sabres and Blues.
The reason I’m noting it is A) he’s a large individual (6’3″ 235) and B) he hits (pretty hard, actually) and drops the gloves and isn’t terrible at it. He’s no Ryan Reaves, but he throws the left at least reasonably well.
Of course he wouldn’t be eligible to play for the Pens unless they sign him. Unlikely. But I’m glad there’s SOMEONE in the organization who’ll play a physical game and drop the mitts.
Oh, his dad…Ted Nolan…played for the Pens back in 1985-86.
Rick
Hey all,
One of those what-if scenarios that can drive you crazy. I always wondered why JR didn’t sign Hainsey instead of Hunwick.
As I mentioned, Hainsey did a really good job for us and he was a character guy to boot. Plus, JR was familiar with him from Carolina. I can’t remember how tight we were to the cap. But Hainsey didn’t sign for that much more in Toronto ($3 million AAV) than Hunwick ($2.25 AAV) did with us.
In JR’s defense, I do recall noticing Hunwick during the Leafs’ 2017 playoff series against Washington. He looked quick, decisive and involved (while averaging over 25 minutes of ice time). I guess his metrics really jumped that series. Maybe Rutherford saw the same thing. But I digress.
Bottom line…Hainsey gave the Leafs two very effective seasons (a combined 9 goals, 46 points and a plus-42) while averaging over 20 minutes of ice time. He even skated on their No. 1 pairing in 2018-19.
Meanwhile, Hunwick was pretty much one-and-dunwick.
Had Rutherford signed Hainsey, we wouldn’t have had to shuffle Hunwick off to Buffalo in 2018 with a then reasonably effective Conor Sheary. And, in all likelihood, we wouldn’t have signed Jack Johnson.
A classic example of how personnel decisions can have a chain-reaction effect…good and bad.
Rick
Hey Rick,
100% agree on the signings, however, my thoughts on the trades (as you no doubt already know) are;
I never liked either Reaves deal. If you recall, my biggest complaint about trading FOR him was that the Sully would never use him. Sullivan has an aversion to giving TOI to big, physical players. The trade was nothing more than a knee jerk reaction to watching Subban try and break Crosby’s ankle – which I agree, disgusted me too. However, no thought was put into whether or not the coach would use Reaves. So, it ended up a waste of assets.
On the other hand once he was here, trading him for Lindberg was shear stupidity. Both ends of this trade earn an F in my books.
I give the Brassard trade an F as well. Again, no thought seem to be put into the trade. As I wrote at the time, the only player on Ottawa’s roster that I would have given up that many assets for would potentially be Pageau. Not only would the team have to have won the Cup, but Brassard would have had to be a major contributor to justify everything the team gave up for him.
In the end I do agree with your overall assessment of a C but I do not give him an A for effort. Because he appeared to be sitting on his laurels and reacting rather than proacting, I would give him a C-. The fallout from the Reaves and Brassard trades hamstrung a threepeat and hastened the decline of Crosby-Malkin window by asset mismanagement.
The Hornqvist/Kessel trades defined the rise of the Penguins under JR while the Reaves/Brassard trades will define the team’s fall.
Do you give the Leighton deal a B because it helped bring in Oleksiak? If so, I can buy that. As a rule though, I would not give anything above a C for a deal that only brings in an AHL player.
I only have time for a quicky answer.
Yes, to your question about the Leighton-Archibald deal freeing up space for Oleksiak. Otherwise, I liked Archibald and would’ve graded the trade much lower.
Rick
Rick
Not a lot for JR to be proud of with that group. I did like Oleksiak but
I thought after the Wilson fight his play regressed.
With Reaves “smh” – he should still be with the Pen’s. Never played
enough minutes to be a factor.
Go Pen’s