Re the idea they wouldn't trade Rust because Sully loves him...
... have you guys seem where all the Sully 'favourites' play this season?
It doesn't matter who likes you in this org, under Rutherford the leash for underperformers doesn't extend more than a season and often goes a lot less than that. Rutherford's not going to sit by and watch the chance for his 4th Stanley Cup sail by because Sully likes a kid.
Hell, its not even all performance. Rust was part of rumoured trade offers last Summer. This team can trade a RW or two and remain just as strong most days there while getting stronger elsewhere. Getting paid has put Rust in a precarious position there that's been made worse by Simon looking like Sid's best RW. But if he's gonna underperform as well?
Re
@BlindWillyMcHurt - Geno/Horny is a bad example because the stats sheet shows they'd been successful before then in 16/17 - just one of those combos that looked so ugly nobody remembered it.
But I get your skepticism about Johnson.
Re this post
HERE Regarding our game vs Ottawa in 2017. Honestly if we're looking at how we played vs Ottawa in 2017, I think Ottawa beat themselves in 2017. I don't think we played all that different then. Sure they beat us in the first few games, but I think they changed their game after that.
You may be right about Ottawa, I didn't focus heavily on them, but I definitely saw a change in our own play.
And Re What Does Trading Sprong fix...
It fixes have a depreciating asset that the org is convinced won't help this season. That's all. Its not much, its not fixing the big stuff, but if that's their opinion then its better to do it than not. I think everyone can agree with that, even if they disagree with the org's assessment of the situation in the first place.