It may have already been said, but I have only made it to page three of the 14 so far. The way I read JR's comment, it wasn't an attack on JT or the CBJ organization. His comment was to try to justify the contract he had just signed with JJ. He wanted the Pens fan base to understand that he didn't think JJ's bad play was because he was a bad player, it was because he had off ice distractions that led to him being the number 7. He's just trying to make us Pens fans more comfortable. Of course a lot can be read in to JT's response, if it was anyone other than JT. If it was anyone else, it would show that there was some other reasons why JJ was a healthy scratch. With it being JT and knowing that he flies off the handle on a regular basis, it may be something or it may be nothing.
I think you're exactly correct.
I think he's rolling the dice, and he's trying to convince his fan base (and maybe himself) that he put his money on the pass line instead of on rolling a hard 10. I think he's doing exactly what you're saying -- he's easing minds.
Unfortunately, his choice of words included an implication that he was doing things right where Columbus was doing them wrong. And it wasn't hard to spot. People who still have an impression of Tortorella from previous coaching stints are acting like Tortorella was trying to drive a truck through the eye of a needle, when the truth is that Rutherford left a gigantic opening.
Rutherford doesn't usually speak out like that -- that's true. So why did he? Because it's just Tortorella, and it's only lowly Columbus, so it's a lot easier to assume they're screwing up. If Barry Trotz had benched him during their playoff series because he was Washington's seventh or eighth choice at defenseman, and Pittsburgh had signed him the following offseason, they would have just made it about the signing, and said they liked the player, and left it at that. He wouldn't have made such a comment about Washington, or the Leafs, or the Blackhawks, or most other clubs. But the lack of respect Columbus gets from other clubs snuck into his mind, and out came the snide comment. A coach who's won a Stanley Cup and is trying to earn that respect took offense.
Either way -- I'm over this. Hockey will be played. Someone's going to look really good, and someone's going to look really bad. We'll see.