Ryan Whitney is heading back to play the Detroit Redwings in the playoffs. With the Anaheim Ducks knocking off the first place San Jose Sharks last night Ryan Whitney has a chance to enact some revenge on a team that ruined his chances to raise the Stanley cup above his head. “We’re not an eighth seed, Everyone in here knows that and now everyone else sees it, too.” Whitney said last night.
I’ll be one of the first to admit that I was on the get rid of Ryan Whitney bandwagon, along with the people that harassed him at the arena and at his own apartment building. Ryan Whitney was not playing up to the 4.5 million dollars a year that was being spent on him, and that is fact.
Ray Shero traded Ryan Whitney for winger Chris Kunitz and prospect Eric Tangradi. How’s that trade looking now? 6 games into the playoffs for the Ducks Whitney has four assists, last year for the Penguins he had 6 total points in 20 games. Kunitz only has 2 assists in 6 playoff games and Tangradi is missing the rest of the season because he sliced his hand in the last game of the season with his OHL team.
While the Whitney/Kunitz trade was the right thing to do, it could end up as a poor trade on paper for Ray Shero, sort of like the Marcus Naslund trade was for Craig Patrick. It was a trade that needed to be done. Whitney is being tutored by Chris Pronger very similar to the way Naslund was taught the ways by Mark Messier.
If Ryan Whitney didn’t have a following here in Pittsburgh before he left, I’m willing to bet there’s a few more people jumping onto his bandwagon now in hopes he and the Ducks knock off Detroit.
I thought I’d throw my 2 cents in on the Naslund/Stojanov trade for what it’s worth: Trades are made for reasons and when Patrick traded Naslund for Stojanov the rumors were that Penguin players led by Mario felt that Naslund just didn’t fit in and was too soft for the NHL.
Stojanov, however was a bad-ass and the 1996 trade is brought up often as one of the worst ever made. In Patrick’s defense, Stojanov rolled his Ford Explorer outside of Youngstown and screwed himself up so bad that he really just couldn’t compete at the NHL level. I personally know that he couldn’t lift his arm up over his head for years. He went on to play about 5-years in the minors, I think the last team was the New Mexico Scorpions and the last I heard was training to be a firefighter. One of his best quotes came on a Toronto broadcast where he asked that no one feel sorry for him that he had no regrets whatsoever and that he still feels blessed for having played with Mario Lemieux. The accident never let the trade play out to jusged fairly and IMO Stojanov gets a bad rep for that. Same as for Craig Patrick.
In the big picture Tangradi is the real key to the Whitney trade. I agree with Jesselvis on the comment about Naslund. Even after that trade happened way back when and Naslund had success in Vancouver I can honestly say I never really regretted that deal. Even though the Pens received virtually nothing in return. (Alex Stojanov) (( or however you spell it)).I never saw Naslund as an important ingredient to a real winning team.
We will find out about Whitney soon enough but right now I feel the same way about him.
Kunitz will continue to prove his value as the Pens continue to advance and I feel much better about having him on the team instead of Whitney.
Ducks/Pens would be an interesting final now wouldn’t it???
P.S. The thing that makes this site a cut above the rest is knowing that writers like Phil Krundle are willing to go the extra mile to get inside information like Whitney being harrassed at his own apartment building. That is cutting edge stuff that you won’t get anywhere else.
The trade has definitely benefitted the Penguins. You have to remember, Whitney stepped up in the playoffs last year as well. However, it seemed he was always underachieving here in Pittsburgh. No ill will sent towards him. Would love to see him crush the Red Wings. Comparing him to Naslund, I guess time will tell. However, I have a lot of hopes placed on Tangradi. I also like our defensive squad as it is now.
GO PENZ!
This trade may look unsuccessful on paper, luckily I can’t read. The reason this trade, and the Guerin trade look good to me, is the way it allowed the Pens to restructure their forwards to create an incredible mismatch for other teams 3rd and 4th lines. Dupuis and Kennedy shine bright in a role where they can dump and chase, then grind it out on the forecheck. Both are hard-nosed, but also quick and crafty. Not to mention that while Kunitz is struggling on the score sheet, he brings a tenacity and checking ability not seen in many forwards, especially at his size. I will be rooting for Whitney to bring down the Red Wings, but this trade sparked the entire team and made this season worth watching, and I’m still confident Kunitz will light up the score sheet in the series to come. Either way, his presence is felt, ask Kimmo Timonen, he’ll probably decline to answer.
Go Pens!
Got Malkin?
Whitneys fight last night was humorous. Lets hope he makes a few runs at Hossa and/or any other player on the wings.
Just like there was no room for a soft player like Naslund under Lemieux & Jagr, Whitney and how much he was being paid was squeezed out by Letang and soon Goligoski.