So tell me about Rutherford....

[bluedevil58*]

Canes fan here. I am a bit upset to say the least at how Rutherford left the current state of the Canes. He literally threw away picks as if they were candy, signed people to loaded contracts who had no business earning that kind of paycheck, and made about 100 bone headed signings that never panned out on some sort of player that he hoped would be back to prior form and it never happened.

I must ask, as a Pens fan are you guys somewhat nervous about the current state of the Pens with JR at the helm? He can make good trades but he is horrible at developing talent through the draft and building a legit blue line. Don't get me started on his contract negotiation skills. Are there proper checks and balances in place to prevent him from destroying your franchise like he did with the Canes?

Good luck this year, I think you guys might win the cup.

- BD58 (my wife is from Wexford).

Click to read more...

 

[Til the End of Time]

incredibly nervous. he has proven himself to be a bad gm.

the pens only have a few prime years of sid and geno left and have majors deficits that need addressed, and they give the team to rutherford?

not a good move. no wonder this team has managed to waste most of sid/genos primes.

 

[ProgOg]

Canes fan here. I am a bit upset to say the least at how Rutherford left the current state of the Canes. He literally threw away picks as if they were candy, signed people to loaded contracts who had no business earning that kind of paycheck, and made about 100 bone headed signings that never panned out on some sort of player that he hoped would be back to prior form and it never happened.

I must ask, as a Pens fan are you guys somewhat nervous about the current state of the Pens with JR at the helm? He can make good trades but he is horrible at developing talent through the draft and building a legit blue line. Don't get me started on his contract negotiation skills. Are there proper checks and balances in place to prevent him from destroying your franchise like he did with the Canes?

Good luck this year, I think you guys might win the cup.

- BD58 (my wife is from Wexford).

Well, that should balance out with what Shero has left the Penguins with.

Made great offseason signings. Two trades (Hornqvist&Spaling-Neal, Klinkhammer-Sammuelson) seem to look good so far. Still has a lot to do, so judging him is hard. A lot of cleaning up still has to happen.

And there are probably 10 assistant GM's working under him, so I'm guessing there is a buddy system in place when it comes to making decisions.

 

[Will Hunting]

Canes fan here. I am a bit upset to say the least at how Rutherford left the current state of the Canes. He literally threw away picks as if they were candy, signed people to loaded contracts who had no business earning that kind of paycheck, and made about 100 bone headed signings that never panned out on some sort of player that he hoped would be back to prior form and it never happened.

I must ask, as a Pens fan are you guys somewhat nervous about the current state of the Pens with JR at the helm? He can make good trades but he is horrible at developing talent through the draft and building a legit blue line. Don't get me started on his contract negotiation skills. Are there proper checks and balances in place to prevent him from destroying your franchise like he did with the Canes?

Good luck this year, I think you guys might win the cup.

- BD58 (my wife is from Wexford).

He had a decent start with us this summer. Has been vocal with his plans and ideas and those were some right ideas, but let´s see what happens. Until then, words are nothing. I´m cautiously optimistic, though.

The key difference here is that he´s operating under completely different circumstances than he was in Carolina. This franchise is willing to spend money and doesn´t have a losing reputation as Canes do. That makes things easier for him, but it´s still not an easy job, you know.

 

[IcedCapp]

He says all the right things. All of them.

Deserves more than the few months I and a few others have given him to act on them.

My only real qualms with him are the Spaling acquisition/contract and the Fleury contract (term and price are fine, but would have preferred to wait)

 

[Deutschland Dangler]

Nervous for sure but I would be with any GM, it has nothing to do with Rutherford.
So far, he has made some great signings and a pretty bold trade that has paid off handsomely so far. Sure, Ehrhoff was a little bit of a redundant signing (in the eyes of some, me not included) and the timing of Fleury's extension was a real head scratcher but that's not really that much of an issue.
Sure, some people are angry that he did not fix everything at once but those would be angry no matter who the GM is.
Also, developing a proper blue line is not necessary, we have pretty much everything set up back there right now.
And finally, we have more assistant GMs than we have capable wingers so there's more people involved in the decisions.

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

Canes fan here. I am a bit upset to say the least at how Rutherford left the current state of the Canes. He literally threw away picks as if they were candy, signed people to loaded contracts who had no business earning that kind of paycheck, and made about 100 bone headed signings that never panned out on some sort of player that he hoped would be back to prior form and it never happened.

I must ask, as a Pens fan are you guys somewhat nervous about the current state of the Pens with JR at the helm? He can make good trades but he is horrible at developing talent through the draft and building a legit blue line. Don't get me started on his contract negotiation skills. Are there proper checks and balances in place to prevent him from destroying your franchise like he did with the Canes?

Good luck this year, I think you guys might win the cup.

- BD58 (my wife is from Wexford).

While he didn't end well in Carolina he usually had a competitive team considering the market and owners but yeah im nervous.

One the other hand so far so good...

Since he took over he resigned RFAs Sutter and Despres to deals wroth below my expectations.

Signed Downie, Comeau, Erhoff, Goc and Greiss as UFAs to a combined 7.9 million dollar cap hit and they have all met or exceeded expectations.

The resigning of Fleury looks promising as of now as he is looking better than ever.

He's made 2 trades which to this point are working out well. Hornqvist has been everything one could hope for an more, Spallings been meh but he was just a throw in and Klinkhammer has been as helpful in the bottom 6.

Though the coaching search was an adventure it seems Johnson knows what he's doing.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

I think the big difference here is that he obviously doesn't have absolute power here and has more things going in his favor (cap team, long-term deals for top players already in place, etc.)...so we'll just have to wait and see how this works out.

I'm cautiously optimistic so far.

 

[wgknestrick]

MAF contract = Cam Ward contract

Griess = Khobodin

Both times he was unable to identify the older, more expensive goaltender as a bad signing.

MAF has been playing great (relative to MAF), but how long will it last? Was it a good long term decision to give him the contract for that many years?

Griess has still posted a higher 5v5 SV% than MAF, but hasn't been given enough games to start really making a good comparison. I just don't think he makes good decisions.....nor do many people in this org. Johnson kind of fell into his lap.

The Jordan Staal trade fleeced you guys. Sutter is looking just as good as Staal this year IMO. J Jokinen was another horrible trade for the Canes.

 

[penguins2946*]

JR has done a pretty good job for us so far:

-Signed Downie, Ehrhoff and Comeau to absolute steals of contracts in FA
-Brought in Hornqvist and Klinkhammer, who has been absolutely fantastic for us
-Signed Fleury to a good deal (looks good as of now)
-Drafted Kapanen at the draft

My only complaints with him so far are Spaling being a part of the Neal for Hornqvist deal (he's not good and too expensive) and signing Fleury too early, but his play this year would just have increased his price tag.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

It's been good so far, but it isn't JR in charge of everything since they have idk how many underling GM's "helping" and I think the plan is to have one of them (Botterill?) replace him. So there's incentive not to **** the future up horribly for them. So it's a manageable level of distrust for the group.

Comeau - great
Downie - very good
Ehrhoff - a freebie from the player
Hornqvist - great fit
Greiss - very good backup
Spaling - inoffensive?
Klinkhammer - so far so good
Goc - steal

Fleury's contract remains to be seen. If another implosion happens it's a disaster, if MAF is the goalie he can/should be then JR looks like a genius.

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

It's been good so far, but it isn't JR in charge of everything since they have idk how many underling GM's "helping" and I think the plan is to have one of them (Botterill?) replace him. So there's incentive not to **** the future up horribly for them.

Comeau - great
Downie - very good
Ehrhoff - a freebie from the player
Hornqvist - great fit
Greiss - very good backup
Spaling - inoffensive?
Klinkhammer - so far so good

I think inoffensive both sums up Spalling acquisition and playing style perfectly

 

[billybudd]

Canes fan here. I am a bit upset to say the least at how Rutherford left the current state of the Canes. He literally threw away picks as if they were candy, signed people to loaded contracts who had no business earning that kind of paycheck, and made about 100 bone headed signings that never panned out on some sort of player that he hoped would be back to prior form and it never happened.

I must ask, as a Pens fan are you guys somewhat nervous about the current state of the Pens with JR at the helm? He can make good trades but he is horrible at developing talent through the draft and building a legit blue line. Don't get me started on his contract negotiation skills. Are there proper checks and balances in place to prevent him from destroying your franchise like he did with the Canes?

Good luck this year, I think you guys might win the cup.

- BD58 (my wife is from Wexford).

JR would have to trade about 5 guys to irreparably screw up our blueline. Shero left us with so much depth, much of it cheap. His regime way, way overdrafted D.


As far as signings, he struck gold twice at the dollar store (Comeau, Downie) and got Ehrhoff in here for well under the cost for that type of player. I hated the Fleury extension, but JR's looking like a visionary with that one so far. Sutter also resigned for a reasonable dollar figure.

Only real issue I have with his work so far is Nick Spaling, who was granted $2.2 million by an arbiter. Spaling brings, maybe, a third of that value to a team. But that was an arbitration award. Arbitrations are between an agent and an advocate from a law firm in New York, appointed by the NHL. Rutherford's only faux pas is having him included in the Hornqvist deal, instead of something else.

Edit:

Don't get me started on his contract negotiation skills. Are there proper checks and balances in place to prevent him from destroying your franchise like he did with the Canes?

I don't think he actually negotiates the contracts. Shero didn't. Jason Boterill did that under Shero and probably still does that under JR.

As far as checks and balances, the Penguins business structure is strange, so it's not clear who has what power. JR is not in the same position he was in Carolina, where he was basically GM, CEO and part owner.

 

[Will Hunting]

MAF contract = Cam Ward contract

Griess = Khobodin

Both times he was unable to identify the older, more expensive goaltender as a bad signing.

MAF has been playing great (relative to MAF), but how long will it last? Was it a good long term decision to give him the contract for that many years?

Griess has still posted a higher 5v5 SV% than MAF, but hasn't been given enough games to start really making a good comparison. I just don't think he makes good decisions.....nor do many people in this org. Johnson kind of fell into his lap.

The Jordan Staal trade fleeced you guys. Sutter is looking just as good as Staal this year IMO. J Jokinen was another horrible trade for the Canes.

Jesus, this is some unfair negativity.. I have more issues with this post, but... Fleury is great "relative to his standards?!" What? He´s basically playing at Vezina nomination calibre now. That timing of that signing was a bit odd, but surely it looks decent now. There´s still risk but if Fleury goes like this all season long, he would be seeking more than 5.75M per. So while there was a risk, there might also be benefit. Hard to predict, as usual.

Then again, JR made some mistakes in Raleigh but it has nothing to do with us. Different team, completely different circumstances and a very solid start so far with us.

 

[djt153]

the most divisive things about him are spaling, who perhaps gets paid $1MM too much and the the contract extension for fleury, who has been the team mvp so far this season. hard to be too down on him at this point.

 

[Fordy]

jr has been excellent. like icedcapp said, he's said all the right things. i'm actually way more worried about boterrill coming in in two years than jr, i don't have a clue what botterill thinks about anything and he spent a hell of a long time under shero

 

[Your Boy Troy]

He's been alright. I am still not a fan of this hire. It's not the direction that I think Pittsburgh needed to go. I never liked the way he carried himself.

The signing of Steve Downie and Blake Comeau (wasn't a fan of the Comeau addition at the time) were very good moves at a low cost. The signings of Marcel Goc, Nick Drazenovic, and Taylor Chorney were pointless; in my opinion.

Patrick Hornqvist was a good acquisition. I will always be sour about James Neal leaving because he was one my favorite players. Nick Spaling was a crappy throw in.

Christian Ehrhoff was a decent fill in. Thomas Greiss has looked poised during his starts.

The Mike Johnston hire was a great choice along with Rick Tocchet as an assistant.

The team is still missing a legitimate heavyweight. That is expected with JR. It's a quick and easy move.

We will see what happens in the next four months.

 

[bluedevil58*]

MAF contract = Cam Ward contract

Griess = Khobodin

Both times he was unable to identify the older, more expensive goaltender as a bad signing.

MAF has been playing great (relative to MAF), but how long will it last? Was it a good long term decision to give him the contract for that many years?

Griess has still posted a higher 5v5 SV% than MAF, but hasn't been given enough games to start really making a good comparison. I just don't think he makes good decisions.....nor do many people in this org. Johnson kind of fell into his lap.

The Jordan Staal trade fleeced you guys. Sutter is looking just as good as Staal this year IMO. J Jokinen was another horrible trade for the Canes.

Jordan Staal hasn't played a single game this year due to a broken leg. or are we referring to Eric?

 

[penguins2946*]

jr has been excellent. like icedcapp said, he's said all the right things. i'm actually way more worried about boterrill coming in in two years than jr, i don't have a clue what botterill thinks about anything and he spent a hell of a long time under shero

I'm not concerned about Boterrill, he's a cap wizard and he has served under 2 veteran GMs for a while in Shero and Rutherford. I think serving under both JR and Shero would be beneficial for him. Shero's weaknesses fit JR's strengths (F drafting, aggressiveness in trades, ect) and JR's weaknesses fit Shero's strengths (D drafting, winning trades, ect). Learning from 2 GMs that have different strengths and weaknesses can only be good for him.

 

[ProgOg]

Jordan Staal hasn't played a single game this year due to a broken leg. or are we referring to Eric?

Pretty sure the comment was about Sutter in 2014-15 = Jordan Staal.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

Jordan Staal hasn't played a single game this year due to a broken leg. or are we referring to Eric?

So clearly Sutter is better.

jr has been excellent. like icedcapp said, he's said all the right things. i'm actually way more worried about boterrill coming in in two years than jr, i don't have a clue what botterill thinks about anything and he spent a hell of a long time under shero

Eh, that can go both ways. He could be a Shero clone or he got to see what went wrong with Rejean up close to learn from it. Or he's his own GM for better or worse. But I do think there's a reason they didn't promote from within yet and have a group of assistant GM's. They learned from the fall of Sherosma as far as management goes.

 

[bluedevil58*]

So clearly Sutter is better.




Eh, that can go both ways. He could be a Shero clone or he got to see what went wrong with Rejean up close to learn from it. Or he's his own GM for better or worse. But I do think there's a reason they didn't promote from within yet and have a group of assistant GM's. They learned from the fall of Sherosma as far as management goes.

The funny thing is that Sutter has 2 less points than Eric Staal and a much better +/-. Man this is a depressing year to be a Canes fan. Here is to obtaining the first overall pick this off season.

 

[Fordy]

I'm not concerned about Boterrill, he's a cap wizard and he has served under 2 veteran GMs for a while in Shero and Rutherford. I think serving under both JR and Shero would be beneficial for him. Shero's weaknesses fit JR's strengths (F drafting, aggressiveness in trades, ect) and JR's weaknesses fit Shero's strengths (D drafting, winning trades, ect). Learning from 2 GMs that have different strengths and weaknesses can only be good for him.

of course, the hope is that he's learned from both of them. but maybe he also didn't learn a thing, thought shero was doing a great job, etc. etc.

 

[Waffle Fries]

He's been alright. I am still not a fan of this hire. It's not the direction that I think Pittsburgh needed to go. I never liked the way he carried himself.

The signing of Steve Downie and Blake Comeau (wasn't a fan of the Comeau addition at the time) were very good moves at a low cost. The signings of Marcel Goc, Nick Drazenovic, and Taylor Chorney were pointless; in my opinion.

Patrick Hornqvist was a good acquisition. I will always be sour about James Neal leaving because he was one my favorite players. Nick Spaling was a crappy throw in.

Christian Ehrhoff was a decent fill in. Thomas Greiss has looked poised during his starts.

The Mike Johnston hire was a great choice along with Rick Tocchet as an assistant.

The team is still missing a legitimate heavyweight. That is expected with JR. It's a quick and easy move.

We will see what happens in the next four months.

You think signing a third line center to an extremely good deal to be our fourth line center was pointless? Goc is excellent depth.

Complaining about Drazenovic and Chorney is also pretty strange considering those deals don't have anything to do with Pittsburgh and were likely done by Botterill.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Complaining about AHL vet signings is pretty funny. Every team has a few contract spots filled by guys who are meant to stay in the AHL...you can't have just kids on a team and expect things to improve. see: Oilers


Goc is also on a very team-friendly deal and is over-qualified for the fourth line. It's not his fault he's spent all but the past two games with Craig Adams and Zach Sill weighing him down.