I was scanning the hockey sites Wednesday night for trades and other pre-draft activity when I noticed the Canucks made two moves, each involving former Penguins.
First, they re-signed pending UFA center Teddy Blueger to a two-year deal with an AAV of $1.8 million. Later in the day, the Canucks peddled forwards Ilya Mikheyev and Sam Lafferty to Chicago, along with a second-round pick in the 2027 Entry Draft, for a fourth-round pick in the same draft. Resulting in roughly $4 million in cap savings (they retained 15 percent of Mikheyev’s salary).
Vancouver promptly used the cap relief today to lock up their emerging and sure-to-be-in-demand UFA power forward, Dakota Joshua, on a four-year deal for $13 million.
With all due respect to Canucks general manager, Patrik Allvin, these moves have Jim Rutherford’s fingerprints all over them. Beat the opposition to the punch while jettisoning your dead wood.
A rangy Russian winger with some ability, Mikheyev had managed just one goal in his last 62 games with the Canucks, including the playoffs. None is his last 26. Lafferty had likewise swooned down the stretch. Following a solid first half, he tallied only three goals in his final 47 games including the playoffs.
Again, typical JR. Correct your mistakes.
It makes me wonder. Would our Pens be better off if the Rutherford/Allvin combo were still in charge?
I think we would.
Following the Covid-induced Qualifying Round in 2020, when the Pens were ingloriously muscled aside in four games by 24th seed Montréal, Rutherford began to execute a retool-on-the-fly.
He pared underachievers Jack Johnson and Justin Schultz from the defense and signed Cody Ceci, a former first-round pick with pedigree albeit a tarnished reputation. In a typically bold move, he dealt fading but still marketable net-front banger Patric Hornqvist to the Panthers for talented but mistake-prone rearguard Mike Matheson.
Gutsy moves, especially the latter. But ones that needed to be made.
The newcomers complimented each other beautifully while resurrecting their careers. Thanks in part to Ceci’s steady presence, Matheson cut way down on his giveaways. Ceci finishing second on the team with a plus-18.
Other bargain-basement finds included forwards Evan Rodrigues and Frédérick Gaudreau. Both shone in bottom-six roles.
Suddenly, the Pens had the feel of a team on the rise.
Too bad JR wasn’t around to see the job all the way through. When he boldly attempted to trade a member of the core (rumored to be Kris Letang) he was blocked by then-president and CEO David Morehouse, which led to the spunky GM’s abrupt resignation.
The Pens might have minimized the damage by promoting Allvin, who was named interim GM and has since proven himself a worthy and highly competent exec. However, in a decision largely driven by Morehouse, Ron Hextall was hired instead.
Although Hexy had a handful of successes, the net effect was a mass exodus of able 20-somethings like Ceci, Gaudreau, Matheson, Rodrigues, John Marino, Jared McCann and Brandon Tanev, which greatly expedited our slide from playoff team to aging also-ran.
Meanwhile, Rutherford stepped squarely onto a sinking ship north of the border when he took over as president of hockey operations for the talented but underachieving Canucks in December 2021. As the team continued to take on water during the ’22-23 season JR moved decisively, firing ultra-popular coach Bruce Boudreau and replacing him with Rick Tocchet. Although the Canucks missed the playoffs, they showed real improvement under the former Pens assistant.
Displaying his trademark boldness, JR set about the task of overhauling the Canucks last summer. He bought out Oliver-Ekman Larsson, acquired talented puck-moving defenseman Filip Hronek from Detroit and plugged gaps with a series of shrewd, low-cost signings, including former Pens Blueger, Lafferty and two-time Cup-winning defenseman Ian Cole.
JR/Allvin proceeded to swing two huge in-season deals, plucking two-way center Elias Lindholm and foe-mashing defenseman Nikita Zadorov from the Flames in separate swaps. Although Lindholm proved to be a disappointment (and rumored to be on the trade block at the deadline), JR’s moves helped propel the previously foundering Canucks to the Pacific Division title.
A dramatic turnaround remarkably similar to the one he executed in the ‘Burgh.
No offense intended to current POHO/GM Kyle Dubas, who likewise inherited a sinking ship awash with bilge water from the Hextall era. The former Leafs exec tried his darndest to effect a turnaround in his first season on the job, to no avail. Several of his biggest moves backfired in the process.
Rutherford’s certainly had his share of swings and misses, too. Yet he possesses an undeniable and uncanny feel for fleshing out a roster and building a contender.
If I had my druthers? He’d still be running the show.
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Rick
I would take Rutherford back in a NY minute. Did he make mistakes "Yes", but he would immediately swallow
is ego and try to correct his error. Now that I look back when JR abruptly stepped down and everyone
speculated it was over the Penguins core, It appears to me that Sullivan may have been the culprit. I really
believe JR was pushing to add toughness and grit to the Pen's roster and Sullivan went over his head to
keep it from happening. We know that JR tried with the likes of Reaves, Oleksiak, Gudbranson, etc...etc....
I'm hoping Dubas doesn't sit on his hands and is an active participant at the draft.
Hey Rick,
I am going to have to disagree with you here, the problem with our Penguins isn't limited to any single GM or other decision maker. They all suffer/suffered from the same ailment.
In Frank Herbert's Dune, Lady Jessica is quoted saying "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings obliteration. I will face my fear and I will permit it to pass over me and through me."
The stench of fear has permeated every decision this team has made since 2017, the fear of losing. The team also has a deathly fear of change. The fear of losing has stripped the team of its ability to win and their pathological fear of change has ensured the death spiral in which they now are locked.
That same fear that stripped the team of its ability to win also infected many fans causing them to become bellicose defenders of failed policies.
As forJR, yes, has made some good decisions in Vancouver, as he did in Pgh at the beginning, but the expectations were low over there, so he isn't being hampered by the fear that caused him to trade a 1st Round Pick, a Goalie that had an off year last year but was a stud the year before, Ian Cole, and Ryan Reaves for Derrick Bressard. Give JR time. As the expectations on Vancouver grow, so will his Gaffes. He did it in Carolina, He did it here. And he will follow that pattern in Van.
Hey Other Rick,
Interesting response and take. I know that some argued at the time of JR's resignation that he got out of Dodge just before the bill became due on some of his moves (trading away drafts, etc.). But the fact is, the 2020-21 team was a pretty good bunch, and fairly loaded with 20-somethings.
We even survived the '21 offseason when Hextall essentially lost McCann and Tanev in the expansion draft and allowed Ceci and Gaudreau to walk in free agency. But when he tried in earnest to remake the team with the Petry-Matheson, Smith-Marino deals...my goodness what blunders. Not to mention allowing Rodrigues to go, signing Kapanen for $3.5 mil following a really bad season and, of course, the ill-fated Granlund deal.
To me, that's where it all unraveled.
I will agree that at some point I wish we'd moved on from Sullivan...certainly after the '22-23 season if not before. I just think he's too wedded to his system and personnel preferences, which I feel hinder the team. But it is what it is. He's still here, FSG likes him and a lot of the players do, too.
Back to JR. Maybe you're right. Maybe what happened in Carolina would've eventually happened here (five straight playoff misses under his watch, nine in all). But I also think he's demonstrated an ability to stay one step ahead.
Rick
The Other Rick
GM's in all Sports are subject to mistakes. It's how you react to your mistakes that separate the good
GMs from the bad GM's. It's important to know when to cut your loses and move on. I'll take JR's
aggressive approach over a GM that can't pull the trigger and blames the lack of movement on
salary cap restrictions "which is a joke"!! Also, as a GM you can't be manipulated into making moves
for sentimental reasons, which I believe the Pen's are guilty of doing. The interest of the organization
should always be a top priority when making a move.
Hey Mike,
Not going to argue about how a person reacts to their mistakes as more important than the mistake itself. Nor am I trying to defend Dubas' plodding and lack of movement. What I am saying is that JR was effectively no different than Dubas or Hextall. All 3 were/are debilitated by fear, fear of losing or fear of change (sentimentality)
1. JR never stood up to his employee Sullivan when Sullivan was insubordinate to him in the media.
2. JR never righted his worst mistake, trading for Bressard, there are no assets left in the organization from that trade.
3. JR didn't even understand the rules for trade and trade to reacquire Hagelin when he had retained salary when he traded him.
4. JR jumped the gun and announced the signing of his first head before that man put ink to paper and had to suffer the embarrassment of that debacle.
5. JR suffers through as much sentimentality as any and all of the above Coaches. He traded a first round pick for his buddy's son Kasperi Kappanen and put up with Sullivan's disrespect. He is rumored to be chasing his boy Guentzel right now. JR is as much a poster boy for sentimentality as Hextall and his extension to Carter.
I don't moon over any of our recent past GMs nor am I drinking the kool-aid of our current GM. This team is still hamstrung by their fears.
The Other Rick & Rick
My sentimental comment was actually directed at the Pen's & Hextall for signing two-thirds of
our core to long term deals. If anything has Dubas handcuffed its having these contracts
hanging over his head for the next 3 to 4yrs. At the time Hextall announced the long term deals
I said this would set the organization back 5yrs. I still believe that will ring true.
Hey Mike,
After reading your comment here I took a look at the FA class of 2022-2023 for Centers and Defensemen and started writing a full post but changed my mind. The long and short of it came down to this. Would I swap out Malkin and Letang for Draisaitl and Makar - Yes, in a heartbeat, but looking at their FA class and comparing it to the past 2 season records, the Pens GM made a great deal and an OK deal.
Malkin still finished in the top 20 of Centers (20th) in terms of Pts/60 5-on-5 and was far and away better than Sid defensively last season. Yes Crosby was pushing the O but was hanging his Goalies out to dry in terms of TGA/60. So, the $6.1 million 4 year contract that only has 2 more years left doesn't look all that bad. It doesn't look like a maudlin, over sentimental contract but a sound contract particularly when you see that the only FA in that FA class who have played better than Geno were Point who re signed with TB for $9.5 million and got a NMC, Quinn Hughes who got $8 million but was RFA and nearly impossible to poach, and Barkov who re signed with Fla at $10 million.
As for Letang, I agree, I don't like either the term or the value of his contract, but the reality is that not a single defenseman in that FA class has played better than him. Furthermore, Letang represents the only non purse swinging Ruth Buzzi Blueliner that Sullivan won't summarily banish to WBS or ship out of town. Letang only came in 35th among D-men so his $6.1 million does look a little much and more than a bit sentimental but considering the options, the team had little better choices.
Yes, FA isn't the only avenue for most teams to acquire players but also remember that JR most particularly cleaned out the team of tradable assets and draft picks, so FA was pretty much the only avenue still open for the team to explore. Malkin's deal doesn't look genius but looks solid right now and although Letang's deal looks excessive and the team could have played hard-ball with him to get a better price and term, honestly, even though I have been one of the worst Letang critics over the years and would have traded him long ago, I may not like it but I can live with his deal too.
Again, I would rather have Draisaitl and Makar but that was never going to happen. And given the state JR left this team in, the team did pretty good in terms of on ice skill with a slight overpay for Letang.
Hey Mike,
Always great to hear from you. Hope you're having a good summer.
I agree with your sentiments...especially about Hextall doling out so many long-term contracts. To be honest, I think he was following orders...I read an article a while back that suggested Morehouse pushed for Hexy's hiring because he agreed not to break up the core.
Somehow, after the '21-22 season when we nearly beat the Rangers in the playoffs we just seemed to age overnight. The fact that Hextall signed so many veterans to longer-term deals (partly as a way to keep AAVs manageable) certainly had something to do with it.
As you suggested, I don't know if there's much Dubas can do at this point. Unless he can somehow pare off Jarry, Smith and maybe Rakell to free up $$$, I really don't see us making a big splash in free agency.
Of course as we all know, I've been wrong before ... lol.
Rick
Hey Other,
I disagree on two counts.
Hextall isn't remotely in the same league as JR when it comes to making trades and/or correcting his mistakes. His deals with the Flyers were almost uniformly bad as well.
Hextall's strength is drafting and evaluating talent. He actually laid a decent foundation in Philly through the draft...no huge stars, but a fair amount of solid hockey players in a relatively short span of time. But overall, he doesn't have the skill set to be a GM.
That's more a knock on us for hiring him as such.
Two, Rutherford did correct the Brassard trade, and rather nicely. In a classic case of dumping dead wood, he sent Brassard and Riley Sheahan (remember him?) to the Panthers for McCann and Nick Bjugstad, who actually had a considerable amount of promise at the time.
Of course, Hextall blundered away McCann, and Bjugstad was felled by injuries (he's since resurrected his career). But I thought that was a great trade.
I will agree that JR placated and empowered Sullivan a little too much in terms of personnel. Fortunately, he has a tough-minded coach out in Vancouver in Tocchet. One who'll embrace and utilize players like Dakota Joshua and Nikita Zadorov.
Rick
Hey Rick,
My comparison of JR and RH was limited to their sentimentality and penchant for trying to surround themselves with their good old boys JR:Kapanen vs RH/Carter
And JR may try to fix his mistakes but he blunders on that too - trying to reacquire Hagelin when he isn't allowed to get him back and there are zero assets left in his Bressard debacle. He may have tried to fix them but failed miserably.
I fully see him repeating his MO in Vancouver as the fear sets in and he panics throwing good money after bad like he did in Car and PGH
Hey all,
In the couple hours since I published this article, the Canucks also locked down defenseman Tyler Myers.
JR doesn't mess around.
Rick