News Article: Ray Shero late-night Q&A on all things Iginla

[Mr Jiggyfly]

I dunno, but did you happen to hear Rossi on 590 this morning?

HOLY **** I swear he must be sleeping with Pacal Dupuis. Spent 5 minutes of a 10-minute hit talking about how good Dupuis is and how he can't be moved off the 1st line.

No I just woke up and have no clue what Rossi did now. Was he saying his "sources" told him Iggy likes ice cream?

As for Dupuis, apparently Shero felt they needed Iggy for a reason.

 

[JQR]

It's refreshing that a star winger wants to play here, after hearing all the "who wouldn't want to play with Sid/Malkin" talk which was pretty much unfounded.

I don't know, the last several guys the Pens have acquired have all been excited to come to Pittsburgh. Neal, Sutter, Eaton, and then Morrow and Murray, all of them talked about how excited they were to be joining the Pens. Now granted, 4/5 of them didn't have any say in the matter, but I doubt they would have been as enthusiastic if they had been dished to Columbus or Florida or something.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

I don't know, the last several guys the Pens have acquired have all been excited to come to Pittsburgh. Neal, Sutter, Eaton, and then Morrow and Murray, all of them talked about how excited they were to be joining the Pens. Now granted, 4/5 of them didn't have any say in the matter, but I doubt they would have been as enthusiastic if they had been dished to Columbus or Florida or something.

I think Eaton was just happy someone wanted him TBTH.

 

[Don'tcry4mejanhrdina]

I don't know, the last several guys the Pens have acquired have all been excited to come to Pittsburgh. Neal, Sutter, Eaton, and then Morrow and Murray, all of them talked about how excited they were to be joining the Pens. Now granted, 4/5 of them didn't have any say in the matter, but I doubt they would have been as enthusiastic if they had been dished to Columbus or Florida or something.

I was referring to Hossa and Parise, guys who had a choice in the matter. I suppose Morrow did too, but he's not exactly a star anymore.

 

[Penguins23]

I don't know, the last several guys the Pens have acquired have all been excited to come to Pittsburgh. Neal, Sutter, Eaton, and then Morrow and Murray, all of them talked about how excited they were to be joining the Pens. Now granted, 4/5 of them didn't have any say in the matter, but I doubt they would have been as enthusiastic if they had been dished to Columbus or Florida or something.

Morrow and Eaton both had a say on the matter so that's 3/5 not 4/5.

 

[JQR]

Morrow and Eaton both had a say on the matter so that's 3/5 not 4/5.

Well, yeah I guess... I mean it's not like people were chomping at the bit to pick up Eaton.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

I dunno, but did you happen to hear Rossi on 590 this morning?

HOLY **** I swear he must be sleeping with Pacal Dupuis. Spent 5 minutes of a 10-minute hit talking about how good Dupuis is and how he can't be moved off the 1st line.

Rossi has a man-crush on half the team. I can actually tolerate his nonsense more than most but it's gotten to a point where every time he's interviewed the content boils down to 50% gushing over the Penguins and 50% "I'm not saying, I'm just sayin" predictive talk that's totally unfounded but isn't finite enough for him to lose credibility (usually).

 

[AK]

I think some hypocrisy needs to be addressed, and I'm included in this as much as anyone.

We all thought Hossa, back in 2008, was the worst guy in the world for stiffing the Pens and going for the best Cup shot in Detroit (to questionable results, obviously).

Man, it feels good to be on the other side.

 

[Dupree13]

I think some hypocrisy needs to be addressed, and I'm included in this as much as anyone.

We all thought Hossa, back in 2008, was the worst guy in the world for stiffing the Pens and going for the best Cup shot in Detroit (to questionable results, obviously).

Man, it feels good to be on the other side.

I think we were personally butt hurt but I don't think we thought it reflected bad character on his part.

 

[TheOrder]

The more I think about it, the more I realize just how much of an evil genius Shero is.

Before I even go into what he did, let's start by describing the context of the past week or so. Calgary has Iginla, who has basically been the franchise for over a decade. He's on the last year of a contract on a team that's going nowhere fast and looking to jump start a rebuild, is 35 going on 36, and has yet to win a Cup. A classic scenario where one would expect the Flames to deal him to a contender for picks and prospects in order to start over. Now here's the first important detail: Iginla has a NMC. Between that and his value to that franchise, what this means is that he's the one who's actually in control of whatever trade involving him would go down. This is the first thing that had me understanding how Shero landed him: HE NEVER PLANNED ON ACTUALLY NEGOTIATING WITH FEASTER. Feaster, in this situation, is nothing more than a middle man, because Shero and Iginla are actually negotiating through him. On top of that, it was leaked that Pittsburgh was one of the teams Iginla would be willing to be traded to. And that was when a devious, devious plan formed in Shero's mind.

You see, the basis of the negotiations between Shero and Feaster (actually Iginla) was not to send the package that Calgary would find the most appealing, but to prove to Iginla that his best shot at getting a Cup was to join the Penguins. So how would they go about doing that? Lesser GMs would simply try to convincing Feaster and Iginla through WORDS that the Pens were in the best position to win this year. Shero knew that WORDS meant nothing, especially if you couldn't talk directly to the one guy you were actually negotiating with. So come Sunday, phase one of the master plan was executed: we acquire Brendan Morrow from the Stars.

At first glance, everyone here concluded two things: we gave up way too much in futures by sending Joe Morrow Dallas' way and either took ourselves out of the chase for Iginla or at least made it much less likely that we'd acquire him. Similar conclusions were made here with Douglas Murray when we traded for him on Monday. But it was actually the opposite: we made the ultimate pitch to Iginla to join the Pens. Even the fact that we overpaid for those two was, I suspect, 100 % intentional in Shero's part, because it sends two messages:

1. To Iginla: ‘We have just added two veteran, experienced, grinding and most importantly, CUP-HUNGRY players for our Cup run, and we were willing to sacrifice some of our future for them. We've also added some leadership to a team that wasn't really lacking in it (Crosby, Vokoun, Orpik), especially Morrow who has concrete evidence of it by virtue of having been the Stars' captain prior to joining us. We're not full of hot air when we said we believe that we're the favorites to win it all. Other teams can claim all they want that they think they'll give you the best chance to win, but who's out there actually doing anything about it other than us?’

Naturally, the message was received by Iginla without him ever hearing a word from the Penguins organization.

2. To the rest of the league: ‘We have just paid through the nose in order to just add depth to our lineup. If you want to get on our level, be prepared to pay the same price, or you'll just be left behind.’

Basically, by overpaying for Morrow and Murray, not only does Shero show Iginla that we're all in, but he also jacked up the prices league-wide needed to pay just for the chance for any other team to try to match the Pens. A true double knockout: the point of the first two trades wasn't just to acquire good depth players, but to set us up to pick up a third piece, the biggest one of them all, and at the same time, he plays not only Calgary for fools, but the entire league. Dallas and San Jose can pat themselves on the back all they want for ripping off Shero, and they’d be right to do so, but in the process, every other contender is stuck fighting over the remaining scraps going for a premium now. On a related note, notice that Boston, the Pens’ biggest obstacle in the Eastern Conference, was blocked twice now from improving their team with Morrow and Iginla.

It turns out we were all extremely short-sighted: Shero was never worried about overpaying in individual trades, as long as it meant that we would come out better by the end than when we started. The concrete version of this concept is simply imagining all three trades as one big one:

Pens give up:
- Joe Morrow
- Kenneth Agostino
- Ben Hanowski
- 2013 1st round pick
- 2013 2nd round pick
- 2013 5th round pick
- 2014 3rd round pick (2014 2nd round pick if the Pens make the second round of the playoff or we re-sign Murray)

And receive:
- Jarome Iginla
- Brendan Morrow
- Douglas Murray
- 2013 3rd round pick

Suddenly, the trades, put together, don't seem bad at all, do they?

This was Shero's master plan all along. Like a true chess master, he cares not for the lost battles, but only seeks to win the war. I'd say this goes a LONG way towards winning that war.

 

[WVP]

Love Wyshnyski's line: "Ray Shero is the GM you wish your team had."

 

[HandshakeLine]

Love Wyshnyski's line: "Ray Shero is the GM you wish your team had."

Unless of course, it's midseason on the Pens board, then it's FIRE SHERO! time.

 

[BreakfastatMarios]

I dunno, but did you happen to hear Rossi on 590 this morning?

HOLY **** I swear he must be sleeping with Pacal Dupuis. Spent 5 minutes of a 10-minute hit talking about how good Dupuis is and how he can't be moved off the 1st line.

Rossi just jilted for not getting the scoop on the trade and needs/wants to stir the pot.

Rossi is a first class moron.

 

[WVP]

Unless of course, it's midseason on the Pens board, then it's FIRE SHERO! time.

Unfortunately the misinformed are usually the loudest. That goes with everything...

 

[kshinkman*]

The more I think about it, the more I realize just how much of an evil genius Shero is.

Before I even go into what he did, let's start by describing the context of the past week or so. Calgary has Iginla, who has basically been the franchise for over a decade. He's on the last year of a contract on a team that's going nowhere fast and looking to jump start a rebuild, is 35 going on 36, and has yet to win a Cup. A classic scenario where one would expect the Flames to deal him to a contender for picks and prospects in order to start over. Now here's the first important detail: Iginla has a NMC. Between that and his value to that franchise, what this means is that he's the one who's actually in control of whatever trade involving him would go down. This is the first thing that had me understanding how Shero landed him: HE NEVER PLANNED ON ACTUALLY NEGOTIATING WITH FEASTER. Feaster, in this situation, is nothing more than a middle man, because Shero and Iginla are actually negotiating through him. On top of that, it was leaked that Pittsburgh was one of the teams Iginla would be willing to be traded to. And that was when a devious, devious plan formed in Shero's mind.

You see, the basis of the negotiations between Shero and Feaster (actually Iginla) was not to send the package that Calgary would find the most appealing, but to prove to Iginla that his best shot at getting a Cup was to join the Penguins. So how would they go about doing that? Lesser GMs would simply try to convincing Feaster and Iginla through WORDS that the Pens were in the best position to win this year. Shero knew that WORDS meant nothing, especially if you couldn't talk directly to the one guy you were actually negotiating with. So come Sunday, phase one of the master plan was executed: we acquire Brendan Morrow from the Stars.

At first glance, everyone here concluded two things: we gave up way too much in futures by sending Joe Morrow Dallas' way and either took ourselves out of the chase for Iginla or at least made it much less likely that we'd acquire him. Similar conclusions were made here with Douglas Murray when we traded for him on Monday. But it was actually the opposite: we made the ultimate pitch to Iginla to join the Pens. Even the fact that we overpaid for those two was, I suspect, 100 % intentional in Shero's part, because it sends two messages:

1. To Iginla: ‘We have just added two veteran, experienced, grinding and most importantly, CUP-HUNGRY players for our Cup run, and we were willing to sacrifice some of our future for them. We've also added some leadership to a team that wasn't really lacking in it (Crosby, Vokoun, Orpik), especially Morrow who has concrete evidence of it by virtue of having been the Stars' captain prior to joining us. We're not full of hot air when we said we believe that we're the favorites to win it all. Other teams can claim all they want that they think they'll give you the best chance to win, but who's out there actually doing anything about it other than us?’

Naturally, the message was received by Iginla without him ever hearing a word from the Penguins organization.

2. To the rest of the league: ‘We have just paid through the nose in order to just add depth to our lineup. If you want to get on our level, be prepared to pay the same price, or you'll just be left behind.’

Basically, by overpaying for Morrow and Murray, not only does Shero show Iginla that we're all in, but he also jacked up the prices league-wide needed to pay just for the chance for any other team to try to match the Pens. A true double knockout: the point of the first two trades wasn't just to acquire good depth players, but to set us up to pick up a third piece, the biggest one of them all, and at the same time, he plays not only Calgary for fools, but the entire league. Dallas and San Jose can pat themselves on the back all they want for ripping off Shero, and they’d be right to do so, but in the process, every other contender is stuck fighting over the remaining scraps going for a premium now. On a related note, notice that Boston, the Pens’ biggest obstacle in the Eastern Conference, was blocked twice now from improving their team with Morrow and Iginla.

It turns out we were all extremely short-sighted: Shero was never worried about overpaying in individual trades, as long as it meant that we would come out better by the end than when we started. The concrete version of this concept is simply imagining all three trades as one big one:

Pens give up:
- Joe Morrow
- Kenneth Agostino
- Ben Hanowski
- 2013 1st round pick
- 2013 2nd round pick
- 2013 5th round pick
- 2014 3rd round pick (2014 2nd round pick if the Pens make the second round of the playoff or we re-sign Murray)

And receive:
- Jarome Iginla
- Brendan Morrow
- Douglas Murray
- 2013 3rd round pick

Suddenly, the trades, put together, don't seem bad at all, do they?

This was Shero's master plan all along. Like a true chess master, he cares not for the lost battles, but only seeks to win the war. I'd say this goes a LONG way towards winning that war.

I've got to say that this is the most idiotic post I've ever read. I mean sincerely idiotic. It combines 20-20 hindsight, mind reading, speculation and a pathetic attempt top rationalizing Shero's poor decisions all into one package.

It's plain stupid to try to link these trades together in any way. Each trade should be evaluated independently. Shero drastically overpaid for Morrow and Murray.Then he lucked out when Iginla Picked Pgh over Boston. That's all there is to it.

 

[JQR]

I've got to say that this is the most idiotic post I've ever read. I mean sincerely idiotic. It combines 20-20 hindsight, mind reading, speculation and a pathetic attempt top rationalizing Shero's poor decisions all into one package.

It's plain stupid to try to link these trades together in any way. Each trade should be evaluated independently. Shero drastically overpaid for Morrow and Murray.Then he lucked out when Iginla Picked Pgh over Boston. That's all there is to it.

 

[Mordax]

I've got to say that this is the most idiotic post I've ever read. I mean sincerely idiotic. It combines 20-20 hindsight, mind reading, speculation and a pathetic attempt top rationalizing Shero's poor decisions all into one package.

It's plain stupid to try to link these trades together in any way. Each trade should be evaluated independently. Shero drastically overpaid for Morrow and Murray.Then he lucked out when Iginla Picked Pgh over Boston. That's all there is to it.

I've got to say that this is the most idiotic post I've ever read. I mean sincerely idiotic.

 

[Dupree13]

Why not? All it would take would be for Iginla to signal, through some or other channel, that he would be inclined to seek a trade to Pittsburgh. You could bank on it too because Iggy held all the power over the process.

You really believe that Hanowski, D'agostino and a 1st was Shero's final offer if it was really a true bidding process?

Plus, the Morrow for Morrow swap, which I think a lot of us found a little perplexing, makes a lot more sense if Shero knew he was going to be getting Iggy dirt cheap.

@DarrenDreger Some believe Iginla's choice to play with the Penguins was made long before the decision and trade was made final last night.

https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/317334728581713920

Yeah!!!

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

I've got to say that this is the most idiotic post I've ever read. I mean sincerely idiotic. It combines 20-20 hindsight, mind reading, speculation and a pathetic attempt top rationalizing Shero's poor decisions all into one package.

It's plain stupid to try to link these trades together in any way. Each trade should be evaluated independently. Shero drastically overpaid for Morrow and Murray.Then he lucked out when Iginla Picked Pgh over Boston. That's all there is to it.

I don't think the Pens overpaid in any of the trades. Shero had a plan to make this team tougher and he had Morrow and Murry as players as first choices to do that. He got them without losing any player on his roster. The Pens lost Morrow but it sounds like they valued Pouliot, Harrington, Maatta, and Despres more. I still love those trades because they gave us toughness and good character veterans. We needed to upgrade the PK and Murry is perfect for that. Draftpicks are nothing when your core stars are all young. The time to win is now and we have all our best prospects still to add in the future.

Some people just like to *****. Shero added 3 physical players that are smart and great team players and leaders. Shero gave up very little when you look at what he has added. If you would of told me we could add these 3 without losing any players on the current roster while keeping 9 of our top 10 prospects I would of said you were nuts.

Best deadline ever!

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

That quote by Shero is absolutely correct. The pressure is on Bylsma right now.

As well it should be. Bylsma has zero excuses now not to take this team deep in the playoffs, if not win it all.

Winning or losing will come down to Bylsma's decisions as a coach. Does he insist on sticking Dupuis with Crosby, while not even bothering to do the obvious and put Iginla there? Does he continue to bench more deserving guys while Tanner Glass plays?

His decisions to the above questions will determine whether or not this team can reach its potential.

 

[Ray Shero*]

I have arrived.

Praise me.

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

I think some hypocrisy needs to be addressed, and I'm included in this as much as anyone.

We all thought Hossa, back in 2008, was the worst guy in the world for stiffing the Pens and going for the best Cup shot in Detroit (to questionable results, obviously).

Man, it feels good to be on the other side.

The Iginla -> Boston snub is closer to the Parise -> Pittsburgh snub. Nobody hates Parise for not choosing us.

Hossa was a different story.

 

[SirBrad]

I have arrived.

Praise me.

 

[cassius]

Rossi is the ultimate troll. This guy gets paid to blab about a subject that he knows nothing about. I can't count how many times he has been totally and utterly wrong.

This might be his magnum opus though:

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://...4QFjAB&usg=AFQjCNFImc2HK8TkgJYwWHTs7coCpcq41A

Haha.

 

[Gallatin]

I've got to say that this is the most idiotic post I've ever read. I mean sincerely idiotic. It combines 20-20 hindsight, mind reading, speculation and a pathetic attempt top rationalizing Shero's poor decisions all into one package.

It's plain stupid to try to link these trades together in any way. Each trade should be evaluated independently. Shero drastically overpaid for Morrow and Murray.Then he lucked out when Iginla Picked Pgh over Boston. That's all there is to it.

For idiocy and stupidity, one need only look into the mirror my friend. Other than not having to give up Maatta or Dumoulin, this went about how I expected it to. Clearly Iginla had all the power, and was driving the bus. He is desperate to win a cup. Shero knew this and played his hand beautifully, showing Jerome that Pittsburgh was the only place he wanted to be.

Shero knew he could get #12 at half off if Pittsburgh was perceived the Cup favorite. The winning streak, and hugely improved team defensive play the last few weeks probably helped as well. Ultimately though, it was the fact Shero already had top pair with his flush draw that allowed him to double up. In other words, even without Iginla, we were probably the favorites, and that gave Shero great odds to crush the Deadline Game.