If it was this in a vacuum then I could accept it, its in combination with other moves that I don't like. I wouldve preferred like I hoped many would here that we'd move some of those damn defensemen that we had stockpiled for the sole damn purpose of making that kind of Perron trade.
People use that to rationalize every draft pick trade. Seriously, it gets annoying that people are so short sighted that they cannot see draft picks as basically lottery tickets. The more you have the better your chances of hitting on something. When we keep pissing them away we lessen our chances at getting an impact player who can play above their cap hit. And please, lets not act like just because the 2nd rounder is next years draft somehow makes it worthless.
I would prefer our GM use our draft picks to pick with rather than use them as a currency to acquire temporary relief with. This is EXACTLY what did Ray Shero in and I don't know why people arent more wary of this while it's going on under their nose. We spent years drafting more Dmen than we needed for the reason of flipping them for something, use them as currency.
You keep talking about temporary relief yet there is a chance that neither of the players he traded picks for are temporary.
I think you overvalue draft picks. You'd rather the GM make picks than trade them, despite players like a Perron being a sure thing? That's a weird philosophy to me. Trading for guys like Perron and Winnik is a lot different than trading for Morrow and Murray in terms of mortgaging the future.
I think there is a good chance that Martin or Scuderi could have been moved this deadline had Maatta not needed surgery. JR hasn't been here a full year yet, there's still plenty of time for him to move out players to recoup picks.
As far as "let's not act like just because 2nd rounder is next years draft somehow makes it worthless" goes, as mentioned many times throughout this thread, when a pick is not in the current draft year, the value goes down a round. Plus since you said that he traded most of the draft away, it should be pointed out that he only traded 2 picks from this draft.
When we traded Staal to Rutherford we got his replacement and the 8th overall pick (which shouldve been Forsberg). It was not far fetched to expect Neal to return the 11th overall when you're talking about a very inexpensive young 40 goal scorer with years left on their contract.
There is a much bigger gap between Staal and Sutter than between Neal and Hornqvist.
Maybe what annoys me most is he's repeating the same mistakes and the only player he seemed to actively chase off the team was the best scorer outside of Crosby/Malkin and he did not give Craig Adams or Scuderi or even Kunitz similar treatment.
I really don't see these same mistakes you keep claiming to happen. Most of JR's moves are anti-Shero moves. Shero would never shake up the roster that much with a Neal trade. The oldest player JR has brought in was Ehrhoff, everyone else was under 30. JR has put an emphasis on making the team harder to play against. Shero didn't do any of that. You seem to be using trading picks for Winnik to try to argue that he's making Shero's mistakes. Nothing else they've done is remotely similar.
It's a lot easier to trade a guy like Neal than it is to trade Kunitz, Scuderi and Adams. No one will want Adams and Scuderi had no value at the beginning of the year (although he's rebounded a bit with his play now). I doubt anyone predicted Kunitz would be as awful as he is right now, and there are rumors that JR hasn't been thrilled with him. You have to give him a chance.
There are only 5 forwards on last year's playoff roster that are still here. That's a pretty significant overhaul considering how little time has passed
What are you basing agism on? I want new ideas, sometimes they can happen with old coaches/gms. Sometimes young coaches/gm's repeat tired and old ideas. Age has nothing to do with how I factor whether I like someone or not. While typically it's the younger ones who do approach things in a more modern manner it's not exclusive to age and I recognize that.
You don't think calling someone a "senile retread" sounds like an ageist comment?
Why is looking at his record in a critical manner bad? He had his time in Carolina to completely shape that team to his desires and look what he made. That's his body of work so to me that's absolutely the most relevant way of assuming how things are going to go. I think it's hopelessly naive to assume he'll somehow be different with Pittsburgh now.
I don't get the blind faith people immediately put in him since he was hired. I'll admit, I didnt like the hire from the start. I was approaching it from a manner of he had to win me over while I feel people like you are approaching it in the manner of he has to lose you. I went through this during the Shero days. I was routinely criticized because I would criticize the things Ray Shero would do. I would get told how draft picks are basically worthless, we're in a win now mode, he's the best gm in the league etc... You know the drill. It's some of these same people who defiantly defended Ray Shero who are now doing the same with Rutherford.
Who cares what he did in Carolina? As has been mentioned over and over again, ownership made it hard for him. One year he'd have the green light to spend, the next year he wouldn't. Carolina isn't a go-to destination for free agents so he'd have to overpay. His record isn't great there, but that doesn't affect us at all.
He's made a lot of really strong moves for the Penguins. He's signed guys who have made an impact for really cheap contracts, and he did something that Shero never did in getting Sid long-term answers for his wing.
It's not hopelessly naive if you actually look at what he's done for us without a preconceived bias.
I will say one thing, I liked Rutherford's coach hire. I get that will probably be unpopular here as well though. Johnston isnt exactly a spring chicken so I guess your ageism accusations fly out the window. He does have innovative ideas and I think he'll get better with time.
Again, when you call someone a "senile retread" there's not many other ways to take it.
