Oskar Sundqvist is on pace for 20 goals. Is the Ryan Reaves trade JR’s worst?

Rutherford’s Worst Trade


  • Total voters
    114

KIRK

Registered User
Aug 2, 2005
109,700
51,216
I don't agree at all that Sundqvist "showed nothing" in his time prior to playing on St Louis. He wasn't scoring in his NHL time just prior to the trade, but to say that he "never" looked impressive in a Pens uniform is revisionism. There were plenty of times when Sundqvist showed promise.

That said, Sundqvist for Reaves is not nearly as "bad" as somewhere between 2 and 4 of these trades. Also worth mentioning that Reaves is on pace for 14 or 15 goals and is a plus player this year.

I wasn't a fan of the deal because it was one of the first signs that JR was abandoning the model that led to 2 cup wins (I should add that I got WHY they did it . . . Geno was the de facto team tough guy, and he and Sid had gotten the crap kicked out of them over the two cup seasons). BUT, as a value proposition, it wasn't unreasonable at the time, which I think is where you're going with the bolded part.
 

pistolpete11

Registered User
Apr 27, 2013
11,592
10,401
I’m not sure how you can ignore the chain reaction of events though.

The best way to judge a trade is hindsight and understanding exactly how long the initial trade paid dividends.

The Perron trade yielded an asset that played a major role in a cup, and is still paying dividends.

The Morrow for Morrow trade seemed like a bust, but it yielded a major asset for a cup run.

Lots of people don’t know the guy some are lusting after, Dzingel, was drafted with the 7th round pick the Pens gave Ott for Kovy. Does that make it a bad trade for the Pens? I’d say no, others would argue yes.
Where do you draw the line then? The first for Perron trade is still TBD since that thread is still loose? What about the moves they made before they acquired Perron? How do those factor in?
 

CrosbyMalkin

Registered User
Aug 7, 2005
6,700
1,722
Half those trades are not even bad trades so if this is the best you got Rutherford is sitting pretty.

Sprong for Pettersson win Pens

Lovejoy for Despres win Pens: Rutherford stated he wanted a veteran for the playoffs and Lovejoy played top 4 minutes and Pens win Cup. Deal couldn’t of worked out better.

Perron for 1st and Scrub win Pens: Perron did not work out for the Pens but he is still a top 6 forward even now and we traded him for Hagelin who helped us win two Cups. Worth a late 1st any day.

3rd for Sheary and Hunwick Pens win: Sheary is nothing special and really only worth a 3rd and getting Hunwick also taken makes it a big win.

Brassard trade: To be determined, depends on what happens from this point forward. Loved the deal when we got him. Brassard can still pick up his game this playoffs and be worth it or he gets traded for someone that makes a difference.

Reaves for Sundqvist who sucks and would of not been in our lineup and 20 spots lower in the draft. Used Reaves for $2 million cap relief for 2 years. What is that worth? What would you be willing to trade for another team to give us $2 million cap relief for 2 years? I still am fine with that deal. If this is the worst trade then Rutherford has been god like. Sundqvist couldn’t even beat out Rowney before that trade. I couldn’t see him even getting a chance to have played for the Pens to produce.

Rutherford has been by far the best GM since joining the Pens. Rutherford took a team that was old and slow around the core and built them into a young fast team in faster than anyone could imagine. Won 2 Cups added to the core with Kessel. Hornqvist, Schultz, Daley, etc.
 

cassius

Registered User
Jul 23, 2004
13,560
706
IMO... JR's Kessel and Schultz trades trump any bad moves that he has ever made. Both of those two moves are absolute strokes of genius.

Another underrated aspect is how he was willing to trim the fat off the roster and jettison role players, instead of overvaluing them like Shero did

Bonino, Cole, and Sutter all got cut loose. We all know Shero would have overpaid for those guys
 

Peat

Registered User
Jun 14, 2016
29,292
25,206
Good thing we’ve got McKegg, Rowney and Sheahan who all have killed it here instead.

Sheahan did kill it here last season.

While Sundqvist played half a season for St Louis with underwhelming boxcars. There's nothing about what he did that suggested he'd have been an answer here.
 

CrosbyMalkin

Registered User
Aug 7, 2005
6,700
1,722
Wanted the choice to say none of the above.

Rutherford really hasn’t had a bad trade to date. I already gave my defense for each trade just a few posts ago. Rutherford has been god like for the Pens. Shero had this team underachieving for years and made the team old and slow around the core. Many experts predicted Pens time as real contenders was over. In one years time Rutherford was able to turn that slow aging team into the fastest team in the NHL and back to back Cups. Any thread besides homage to that is ridiculous. Plus I can defend easily any of those supposedly bad trades. Plus the absolute steals Rutherford has done with not any clear losing trade is a great record.

Sundqvist a 20 goal scorer is laughable.
 

Penguinsyay

Registered User
Jul 20, 2007
402
32
If you go by the amount of anger and confusion on the forums at the actual time of trade it would definitely be the Lovejoy/Despres trade followed closely by the Sprong trade. I only rank the Sprong trade second because it was less out-of-the-blue than the Despres trade, we all knew Sprong was in the doghouse here. Lovejoy helped in the Cup run so it is harder to be angry about that in retrospect, but the values and potential ceilings of the players just didn’t match up. Third most confusion and anger-inducing trade would be the original Reeves trade. That one just never did make sense as far as how the team plays.

In retrospect it’s probably the Brassard trade by a mile, but I think most people were pretty ecstatic at the time. Most folks considered getting rid of Reeves to be addition by subtraction, and I think we all expected Brassard to bring much more to the team. I hate to blame a GM in hindsight if it made perfect sense at the time.
 

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