That could have been Raymond's decision more than the Pens. Not everybody wants to come here.
I could see that, too. Good call.
Not a great suggestion by the future head coach.
I just figured they passed on Raymond to sign someone with more grit. Then they signed Kobasew and Dagger. Yikes.
I have a feeling Jacques Martin played a role in D'Agostini signing here.
He just sucks. Kennedy had 21 goals one time also, believe it or not.What was his injury, exactly? Did he come back too soon from it? He just hasn't looked like an NHL player at all so far. How the hell did he once score 21 goals in a season? I WANT ANSWERS!
Look back on my post history. I BEGGED for Raymond, but our GM sure knew better.
I hate this team.
I would have preferred Raymond as well but maybe the guy didn't want to sign in Pittsburgh, we don't know his decision and maybe he was offered a different role in TO or promised something
Who the hell is Sutter going to play with now? Ebbett and Kobasew?
It's comments like "**** Shero for signing D'ags and not Mason Raymond, zomgz1!" that make me take all of the organizational hate on these boards with a massive serving of salt.
D'ags was signed on July 10th. Martin hired in August. I suppose you could argue Martin was advising the team a month earlier, but if an un-hired coach is making suggestions of UFA's to sign and then we sign them, we have bigger problems with Shero than I thought.
Hahaha... welp... there goes that theory.
I'm surprised management had the balls to do it. Aren't we a big happy family here?
OK. I understand being put off by the over-the-top negativity.
But why is this criticism somehow off the table? Plenty of people recognized it as a potential impact signing with little risk involved. And Shero seems to have a knack swinging and missing with these projects he brings in while there are real options out there that fit that category.
I wouldn't consider signing a guy to league minimum a mistake. It's a very low-risk move. Especially when our depth at wing is pretty bad.
It's comments like "**** Shero for signing D'ags and not Mason Raymond, zomgz1!" that make me take all of the organizational hate on these boards with a massive serving of salt.
I was actually lobbying for Raymond this summer, as well. But holy false dichotomy, Batman! Calling out management for signing D'ags "instead" of Raymond requires serious mental gymnastics. Was Raymond interested in playing here, period? What was his original asking price ($ and term)? Could we have enticed him to play here by matching or bettering TML's offer? Did signing D'ags preclude us from (theoretically) pursuing Raymond? Any time people point to diamond in the rough signings as examples of their GM's incompetence, I can't help but laugh. I share in the frustration with our roster problems and coaching, but I refuse to join this circlejerk of hatred where every non-signing and $500k contract is ostensibly indicative of overarching problems with "philosophy" and/or management's supposed incompetence.
As an aside, the Bylsma hate is even more hysterical. People seriously chastise Bylsma for "lines" that exist for 12 seconds during on-the-fly line changes.