Poll: James "Disco Killer" Rutherford

[radapex]

1. Voted NO.

2. The hired him because he said YES when they asked the most important interview question:

'We like the message here. We want to keep it in tact and in no way rock that boat. You can do anything you want which propagates and in no way runs counter to that message. The problem here has been the messenger, not the message. Do you agree?'

No, they hired him because no other GM is going to be willing to walk into a job knowing they're gone in 2 years. He was hired to groom Botterill for the GM role because ownership wants him at the helm but doesn't feel he's ready for it yet.

 

[plaidchuck]

I don't know enough about Butterbean to be able to say if he'd be a good GM or not, but I find it incredibly unlikely our cap situation to end the year was his doing and not JRs.

Bottlecaps has been in charge of that for about 5 years and we never had those sort of problems until the GM changed. Either he inexplicably got dumber or the new boss ignored him. Doesn't take a genius to conclude the latter is far more probable.

Agreed, like the team makeup or not, the organization was praised for years for its cap management. They've dealt with injuries for years and then suddenly are blindsided this year? Seems very uncharacteristic. I think the blame falls more on guerin, fitzgerald, and jr himself rather than botteril.

 

[FanaticalFan]

I have no idea what a capoligist is? All I see is someone who works with a budget. (something anyone without a credit card can do). If his job was finding and plugging in value player he failed when Shero went crazy with the summer of stupid. The penguins have never traded for value, instead they keep a player until they overprice themselves from the (budget)


One of the perks of being the Penguins, was for years players were willing to come here and play for less than market value but that was not because of some capoligist genius it was because they thought the Pens were a premier team and one that was a few pieces away from the cup. but if the pens have many seasons where they play more like the end of the year then beginning, that window of UFA willing to sign for less to come here will shut. What we need is a gm who is willing to cut talentless and floaters, And replace them with quality player.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I may be remembering it wrong, but Botterill's role/reputation as "capologist" or whatever had more to do with massaging the upper limit as much as possible (recall the moves they made to squeeze as much LTIR relief as possible out of the Vokoun situation) than finding value for money or ensuring that every contract on the books is "good".

 

[KIRK]

Agreed, like the team makeup or not, the organization was praised for years for its cap management. They've dealt with injuries for years and then suddenly are blindsided this year? Seems very uncharacteristic. I think the blame falls more on guerin, fitzgerald, and jr himself rather than botteril.

I'm not Bottlerocket fan, but I'm fairly confident before the Despres for Lovejoy deal was done that he informed JR what the potential cap implications of the move were if another defenseman got hurt.

 

[FanaticalFan]

I may be remembering it wrong, but Botterill's role/reputation as "capologist" or whatever had more to do with massaging the upper limit as much as possible (recall the moves they made to squeeze as much LTIR relief as possible out of the Vokoun situation) than finding value for money or ensuring that every contract on the books is "good".

that may be the case but it wasn't like Botterill did anything innovative with Vokoun . It seemed like a bunch of teams were using LTIR by the time Vokoun was hurt. The biggest name I think on the top of my head was Pronger in 2011. I secretly hoped the fliers would be screwed by that contract, but then teams like fliers, or the rangers have always found a way out from some of their bad signing, I have yet to see the pens get out from anything.

 

[plaidchuck]

I'm not Bottlerocket fan, but I'm fairly confident before the Despres for Lovejoy deal was done that he informed JR what the potential cap implications of the move were if another defenseman got hurt.

Yeah and then the question is why are you disregarding who is supposedly being groomed to be gm. Whole thing made no.sense from top to bottom.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

I don't know enough about Butterbean to be able to say if he'd be a good GM or not, but I find it incredibly unlikely our cap situation to end the year was his doing and not JRs.

Bottlecaps has been in charge of that for about 5 years and we never had those sort of problems until the GM changed. Either he inexplicably got dumber or the new boss ignored him. Doesn't take a genius to conclude the latter is far more probable.

Well, that MIGHT be the case. OR, maybe before Shero was smarter about managing the cap and helped Botterill out. Now with good 'ol clueless JR at the helm, Botterill had to work the cap entirely on his own and was overwhelmed.

Either way, I'd want no part of Botterill (either as OUR GM or someone else's).

 

[KIRK]

Yeah and then the question is why are you disregarding who is supposedly being groomed to be gm. Whole thing made no.sense from top to bottom.

JR disregarded it because the other 18 AGM's saw Lovejoy as an upgrade over Despres. Perhaps Bottleshock felt similarly.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

In this case, it's guilt by association for me.

 

[KIRK]

In this case, it's guilt by association for me.

I don't know what the case was. Perhaps Bottlebean favored the deal, perhaps not. My only point was that I'm fairly sure he would've told JR of the cap implications of making the deal.

Personally, I'd prefer to hire a GM who isn't beholden or willing to be beholden to the family. FYI, I wanted Jeff Gorton, but I'm guessing he's heir apparent to Sather . . .

 

[Jag68Sid87]

I don't know what the case was. Perhaps Bottlebean favored the deal, perhaps not. My only point was that I'm fairly sure he would've told JR of the cap implications of making the deal.

Personally, I'd prefer to hire a GM who isn't beholden or willing to be beholden to the family. FYI, I wanted Jeff Gorton, but I'm guessing he's heir apparent to Sather . . .

My preference is to get a President of Hockey Ops, someone with strong ties around the league and with a lot of pull. And then he can hire a true talent evaluator with a strong drafting background.

My suggestions are Pat Brisson and Trevor Timmins, but that's the model I believe would work best for us right now.

A lower-profile GM may prefer building through the draft more than a high-profile GM who might be looking to make a big splash. We can't afford anymore bad deals, and we certainly can't afford to ship out more future assets.

 

[Allie Kitsune]

that may be the case but it wasn't like Botterill did anything innovative with Vokoun . It seemed like a bunch of teams were using LTIR by the time Vokoun was hurt. The biggest name I think on the top of my head was Pronger in 2011. I secretly hoped the fliers would be screwed by that contract, but then teams like fliers, or the rangers have always found a way out from some of their bad signing, I have yet to see the pens get out from anything.

The Flyers have been doing it for ages.

Before Pronger, it was Mike Rathje and Keith Primeau.

 

[Captain Hook]

As much as I've ripped JR recently (Mostly for the Despres debacle), I will say this team he's assembled does play much more playoff style hockey with much more net front presence etc. than in the past. Acquiring Lapierre based on his past playoff success has been a shrewd move so far too.

 

[Penguinator]

As much as I've ripped JR recently (Mostly for the Despres debacle), I will say this team he's assembled does play much more playoff style hockey with much more net front presence etc. than in the past. Acquiring Lapierre based on his past playoff success has been a shrewd move so far too.

Randy should try to draw Lappy with the classical troll modified grin on him, i know this would be an artistic challenge but boy wouldn't it look great? I mean... That grin boosted with THAT grin?

I guess just finding the right pic angle of Lappy to fit the troll's grin would be hell but hey, isn't gold worth it?

 

[KIRK]

My preference is to get a President of Hockey Ops, someone with strong ties around the league and with a lot of pull. And then he can hire a true talent evaluator with a strong drafting background.

My suggestions are Pat Brisson and Trevor Timmins, but that's the model I believe would work best for us right now.

A lower-profile GM may prefer building through the draft more than a high-profile GM who might be looking to make a big splash. We can't afford anymore bad deals, and we certainly can't afford to ship out more future assets.

That's why I wanted Gorton. 4th season as Rangers AGM. Point man for the Rangers in league contacts and contracts. Not sure on his scouting role with them, but was above average in Buffalo and ran Boston's 2006 draft as Interim GM (Kessel, Lucic, Marchand). To me, he was Bottelbean with a scouting/drafting resume and league contacts.