Well, I almost got my wish. The other day I suggested that Penguins GM Ron Hextall acquire a forward from Nashville and he did. Just not the one I’d remotely hoped for.
With his trade options shrinking by the minute, GMRH swung two deals Wednesday night.
How I wish he hadn’t. Handed a gift reprieve when the Blues miraculously claimed Kasperi Kapanen and his $3.2 cap hit, Hextall turned around and flushed our good fortune down the loo.
Forgive me if what follows is a bit disjointed. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around it. Kind of like trying to wake up from a nightmare. Here goes…
In his first trade, Hextall sent center and pending UFA Teddy Blueger to Vegas in exchange for defenseman Peter DiLiberatore and a third-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
In his second…and hopefully this isn’t his impact trade…he acquired center Mikael Granlund from Nashville for a second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. Forgive me if I sound crestfallen. Maybe flabbergasted is more like it.
How many breakaways did the guy muff against us on Tuesday night?
Okay, I’ll try to be objective. A former first-round pick of Minnesota back in 2010, Granlund has shown some scoring pedigree, albeit in the distant past, topping out at 26 goals and 69 points in 2016-17. However, since arriving in the Music City in a deadline trade for Kevin Fiala in 2019, his output has fallen off. He did tally a highly respectable 64 points last season, although only 11 were goals.
The native of Oulu, Finland seems to be trending in the same general direction this season with nine goals and 36 points in 58 games (and a Preds worst minus-16). Obviously, more of a playmaker at this stage of his career than a goal scorer.
Granlund just turned 31, stands 5’10” and weights 185 pounds. He won’t shy away from contact, but won’t cause any scrums, either. (He garnered Lady Byng consideration with the Wild.)
He isn’t very good in the faceoff circle, in fact this season he’s been downright awful (43.3 percent). And lest you think we’ve acquired a metrics darling…uh uh. According to Patrick Bacon at Top Down Hockey, his advanced stats are horrific. (Projected WAR of 4%…50 is breakeven.)
Makes me long for…well…Blueger and Brock McGinn, who was assigned to the Baby Pens to save some coin.
To sum up. We’ve gained some skill and versatility (Granlund can also play left wing…kind of a rich-man’s Evan Rodrigues). We’ve lost a chunk of grit…not that we had a helluva lot to begin with. And two pretty good defensive players and penalty killers, although Granlund is reputed to be capable on the pk. And we’re smaller and more benign, as if that was even possible.
Perhaps I’m reading into things. But I can’t help but see Mike Sullivan’s fingers in this pie, along with Hextall’s need to placate him by feeding our finicky coach the type of players he prefers.
Did I mention Granlund’s under contract for two more seasons at a cap hit of $5 million?
I’ve really wanted to give Hextall the benefit of the doubt. After all, there is something to be said for his patient, measured approach. But this latest bobble reminds me of the 2021 Expansion Draft, when we bled off Jared McCann and Brandon Tanev and gained Filip Hallander. The team became worse, not better.
Although we didn’t know it then, an unfortunate harbinger of things to come.
Maybe Granlund will make me eat my words and help us nail down a playoff spot. We can always hope.
But to my eye, we’ve gotten worse with these trades…not better.
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There are a couple reports out from respectable sources:
Pens made a run for JT Miller with draft picks, but Rutherford also wanted a center.
The 5th round pick in the San Jose trade went to 3rd team not announced.
I wonder if the 3rd team is picking up salary or something????
and one report from Dan Kingerski is reporting Pens working on a "Blockbuster"
Trade with Sharks. Bonino, Bonino, Bonino is back for 5th and 7th 2023 picks.
Hey Phil,
I heard that early this morning but I haven't seen conformation yet. Where did you get the details?
The last one I saw confirmed was Vrana to the Blues for McLaughlin
Trade day I usually follow twitter then go here: https://www.tsn.ca/tradecentre/trade-tracker for official word.
thanx
Penguins just brought up Caggiula (another small guy) from WBS. The deadline hasn't hit yet, bringing up a center is interesting.
My personal opinion is that Granlund is a pretty good player. He's a victim of everyone's high hopes from names that have been getting tossed around.
As for Boston, it was not long ago Shero brought in an insane haul at the trade deadline. The Penguins were 100% assured of a Cup win.
What was it Burke said near the trade deadline in 2021 He [Brian Burke] doesn't want Penguins 'going to a gunfight with a knife'. Ahead of the trade deadline, the new president of hockey operations. Don't worry Brian, this year our Penguisn will be going into the gunfight with a spork, not a knife.
Hey TOR,
Burke has been the downfall of many hockey teams, including the USA Olympic team. Why he is here I have no idea.
The other Rick
We just walked into a gunfight and handed the gun & ammo to the
enemy. This is incompetence at its peak.
Mike and Jim,
Thanks so much for reading and commenting. As always, great thoughts and insights. Rather than respond individually I'll kind of do a blanket response.
In a way I'm still stunned by these moves. The team was starting to come around. So were Blueger and McGinn. Honestly, I would've been okay if we'd have just stood pat after clearing Kapanen off the books. It would've given us the cap flexibility to call a couple of guys up (Nylander, Puustinen) and at least try a few things.
This is the equivalent of throwing quick-drying cement on any roster flexibility, now and into the future. Too, it weakens us defensively (a lot) and subtracts from our speed and grit. And we didn't have a ton of those attributes to begin with. It's like Hextall saw the names going off the board, panicked, and made a knee-jerk move for the sake of making a move. The fact that he didn't get any salary retention means we can't recall McGinn until the postseason...IF we make it that far.
Terrible.
Oh, I may have been off on my Sullivan comment. I've read that there's been some tension between he and Hextall, and that Sully was trying to dictate who we should get. Apparently, he was the one who was pushing for Chychrun, who as it turns out might have been affordable after all.
As for Granlund? From what I can gather, he's a decent skater, good on the forecheck and a very good playmaker. Abysmal on faceoffs and not good defensively. Maybe not "soff" but obviously zippo in the way of physical presence.
If I'm reading the tea leaves correctly, it looks like our third line will be Granlund-Carter-Heinen with Carter taking faceoffs, then sliding to right wing. I don't know if Hextall thought Granlund's playmaking might reawaken Carter's dormant scoring touch, but Jeff can barely get up and down the ice these days let alone be in a position to score. And none of these guys are good defensive players.
A disaster waiting to happen...
Rick
Rick & The Other Rick & Jim
To drive a nail in the Coffin - Boston picked up Bertuzzi for a 2024 1st and 2025
4th round pick plus Detroit is retaining 50% of his contract. I'm stunned - now
I'm starting to see why everyone was leary of Hextall when the Pen's hired him.
I know this sounds drastic but I would terminate him today if I was in the
position to do so. IMO this is inexcusable.
A little add-on to the Bertuzzi deal.
In my mind, at some point the Bruins have to start jettisoning guys to make room. If they waive or try to trade A.J. Greer, Hextall could salvage a sliver of something by acquiring or claiming him. Greer's big (6'3" 208) fast, aggressive, a good forechecker and he'll drop the gloves to stick up for his team. At $762.5 K, we could afford him.
Of course we'll never make this kind of move...
Rick
Rick
I think the Bruins covered themselves by puttin Taylor Hall on
the LTIR
Oh Dear Lord,
I would've 1000 times rather gotten Bertuzzi than Granlund. I guess I should've seen this coming. When you look at the moves Hextall made with the Flyers and the players he added...they're all a bunch of Granlunds.
A little while back someone on another blog suggested (I think a little tongue-in-cheek) that we fire Hextall and hire Ray Shero, at least on an interim basis. I actually don't think that would be such a terrible move. Kind of like the Pirates did years ago when they fired Harding Peterson (who'd decimated the farm system while signing the likes of Joggin' George Hendrick and Steve Kemp) and hired former GM Joe L. Brown, who made a flurry of moves to help right the Buccos' sinking ship.
Rick
Rick
Good article on the Athletic. It says it's hard to see the Penguins
plan with the aquisition of Granlund. That could be the under
statement of the year.
It's a good read and breakdown of a poor trade and future
challenges that face the Penguins.
Rick
Even the most loyal and positive Penguin fans have to be shaking their heads
with the latest moves by Hextall. I don't see anyway he can keep his job past
this season. WTH is he doing and who is he leaning on for advise? I'm in a
state of shock, and after listening to him talk about the future he gives up a 2nd
round pick for Granlund. SMH
Where the heck is the Pen's upper mangagement while this is taking place??
If I'm Crosby and the boys and I'm seeing the moves/trades being made by the
other teams in our Division/Conference I'm sick right now. "Jesus"
Hey Mike,
I blame both RH and MS, I have no doubt Sully wanted him to put him on 3rd line. This trade will be another case of misplaying a player, putting a players without the skill set of a bottom 6 on the bottom 6 just because he can't crack the top 6. This team needs bottom 6 skill set, LHD men in droves and a 1B goalie, but we get a top 6 skill set not as good as anyone in our existing top 6.
The Other Rick
My first question would be who the hell is scouting opposing teams for
the Penguins???? Second question would be what the hell is Hextall
thinking?? First off he waited untll the last possible minute to do anything,
and while he's crying we're in a cap crunch (which is a joke) to anyone
that's worked in Professional sports, and he turns around and throws 10mil
down the toillet on a marginal player that doesn't fit into any of the Pen's
priority needs. This must be addressed by upper management.
Agreed 100%
Hi Rick,
I feel your pain ...as the old saying goes. I am totally dumb founded. ...
For me i can not believe that these 2 trades make us any better when you subtract all the players no longer playing with the Pens...Two points I want to make.
You all realize that both Canada and USA are in a serious economic down turn and that does not bode well for major increase in the Salary Cap. Plus declining TV revenues are not a good sign. Hence the 5 million dollar salary for Mikael Granlund will make resigning our Goalie Jarry, plus new players in the off season and even Zucker all most impossible.
Second point is a simple one....Are we really that much better than say 2 weeks ago.??? We are smaller, older, and slower!! Plus almost every one of our competition in the East made real improvements.
Not much else to say....Disappointed but not surprised !!!
Jim
Jim
Like you I'm in a loss for words. This is rediculous. The only thing
thats happened is we lost a 2nd round pick and gained a 5 million
dollar salary for the next 2 years for a mediocre player who's game
is on a downhill slide, he's 31 years old and horrible defensively, and
gives us nothing in terms of physicallity. I don't know what else to say.
Hey Jim,
To your 2nd point first, NO we are not better, as you say we are worse for the wear. Not only are we smaller, oler, and slower, but less defensively minded (true Sullivanism) but we have less assets to try and improve with. I know everyone here likes to chew on the pablum of Draft Picks are a crap shoot, but they are beyond necessary. If your scouting Dept is as bad as ours, hitting on only 5 - 10% of their picks, it becomes even more important to horde picks, to give them enough of a sample for blind luck to get us a player. The same people who poo-poo draft picks tout the mantra that you can't score if you don't shoot, well you can't find that blue-chip if you don't have a pick. With the Penguins scouting department, they would need 32 1st Round picks to find a player to make the roster and then only 6 or 7 years after the draft.
As for your first point, I hear you about the overarching economy and TV revenue (ATTSN?). GMRH is finishing the job GMJR started, ensuring that I never see another Stanley Cup in Pgh. I won't even be a memory by the time they dig themselves out of the hole this clowns are digging.