Finlandia WOAT
js7.4x8fnmcf5070124
- May 23, 2010
- 24,135
- 23,681
The team didn't announce it. A "source" told someone at ESPN.
Wasn't me.
But it wasn't going to be a "secret" for long.
Exactly how are you connected with the team?
The team didn't announce it. A "source" told someone at ESPN.
Wasn't me.
But it wasn't going to be a "secret" for long.
I'm not.
Once again, stubbornness has taken a toll for this team. Aside from Ruutu's indecision to immediately act on his injury, JR's to blame by trying to control his fate. By no means am I inferring that JR injured Ruutu, but his stupidity has cost us. Rather than forgiving himself, he tries to compensate the loss of Cole through another grinder/sniper in Ruutu. Same with his impatience in the JJ saga where he downgrades to Gleason rather than waiting another couple years. Just to imagine that we couldve had JStaal and Sutter barring Gleason and an injured Ruutu is disappointing. (Pittsburgh wanted Ladd and Johnson prior to Sutter, Dumoulin, and 8th for Staal IIRC)
Good thing they didn't give that expensive contract to Erik Cole. I still can't believe they let him walk only to spend that money on Ruutu.
Nice to see that even with the lockout, the board has quickly gotten into mid-season form.
If Ruutu has been rehabbing since August you think maybe he went to a doctor and the doctor told him he could fix it through rehab, especially figuring he had more time to rest? If a doctor said he needed surgery I don't think he or the team would tell them to kick dirt we'll do it our way. If anything they would have done the opposite knowing the season wasn't going to start on time anyway.
The Ruutu contract is dumb dumb dumb, but playing the woulda coulda shoulda game with a potential trade of what amounted to 2 top 4 picks for 1 top 4 pick (all still prospects) is not something you should be highlighting to show how impatient or stupid a GM is.
It probably was doctors orders to wait it out through rehab, and I guess 4 months before surgery isn't too bad. Plus, it gives Tlusty his earned spot in the top 6 and prospects a chance to play if the season starts anytime soon.
As far as stupidity goes, I think none other than JR would trade a 3rd overall pick waiting to finish college for scraps. There are exceptions though. I wouldn't have blamed him if we had been a failed franchise desperate to win a cup or an aging team with no promising future. But since we had just won a cup and we still had Ol captain Brindy, maybe Rutherford thought we could repeat as the champs.
Predicting the outcome of Jstaal, JJ, and Ladd was basically a crapshoot, but since Ladd was basically a godsend with that #4 pick and JR wasn't having it with JJ, trading for the acclaimed best Staal couldn't have been the hardest decision. (not exactly sure when it was that the staal parents called Jordan the best).
Gleason has been a legit top 4 defenseman since he got here so he's not exactly scraps. He was thought to be better than he wound up being but he's still a steady, physical defenseman who is an assistant captain. Belanger was just dreadful though.
Are we still going on about JJ? I would have thought his progression in the NHL would have ended that pining. Historically, we haven't had great defensive players. Why some are mad we missed out on one of the worst defensive players in the league is beyond me.
Now, we probably could have gotten a better return for JJ, but that's a minor thing (and Gleason isn't a bad return).
Even if hes not scraps, it's trading a clear cut top pairing dman for a #4 dman IMO straight up.
We got more out of Gleason than the Kings got out of JJ. I don't feel like it's a coincidence that they traded him, got a highly useful piece for him, and then went from the 8th seed to a championship. For a guy that relishes being a "team guy", he certainly hasn't won much of anything to justify that. Plus, the fact that he didn't want to be here was the worst kept secret in the organization. At least we didn't get Shultz'd.
He has a .38 points per game average (31.16 per 82), is a career -85 in only 364 games, and was traded from a cup contender. How many clear cut top pairing defenders does that describe? He was a -12 on a team that won the cup last season. I don't buy him as a top pairing defender simply because he can skate and hit. He has the same disease that kept Ed Jovanovski from ever staying on top of his peak, he doesn't think the game well and relies upon his physical gifts.
Pitkanen and Johnson would be a disaster. Who's playing defense in that pairing?
I suppose they'd be fine in terms of keeping the offensive zone, but as soon as the puck heads down the other way, Ward would be on an island.
JR would have gotten a much better return if he had traded JJ at the draft or midseason. Trading him at the end of training camp was the worst possible time to do so. Every team thinks they have a chance to win at the start of the season, so who is going to trade significant pieces off their roster for a prospect who wouldn't be able to play for them that season, at a point in time when there are no impact players in free agency left to sign to replace the players they dealt away?
So we got a #4/5D and third line center.
Waiting a whole year after Johnson clearly stated he wanted to still play for Michigan didn't help out Rutherfords situation in the slightest. But when presented the opportunity to obtain a #1 center at the 06 draft, trading Ladd and Johnson was just too much.
Yeah I honestly don't blame JR too much for passing on trading both Ladd and Johnson for Staal though. I do find it funny though that at the time a lot of us were saying that's an obvious non-starter (and it was), but that it would probably be doable with the Pens sending a defensive prospect back. The ironic part is that most of us wanted Welch or Goligoski, who none of them wanted to part with, but many thought that Letang would be a suitable replacement for them in offers, which many of us (including myself) balked at. Had that been the real life offer I'm sure most of us would be doing the happy dance right now.
We definitely should have gotten better for JJ though, even if Gleason has turned out to be a good 2nd pairing guy here. The problem is that JR wanted to offload Tverdovsky's salary in the process, and that combined with JJ's very obvious unwillingness to play here killed the trade value. To be honest JR should have been approaching the trade from the very second that JJ refused to sign with the team after his season ended at Michigan. Hesitating cost him and us.