One of the praises people give Jim Rutherford is that he isn’t afraid to admit a mistake and move on. He’s going to put that one to the test with Jack Johnson. Rutherford had a lot to say about his free agent defenseman and how people aren’t being fair.
“He has never been given a chance here right from the start,” Rutherford said. “And I don’t understand it. It’s been extremely unfair to him. Extremely. He’s a good player.”
“I think he’s doing fine,” said Rutherford, when asked to address Johnson’s season. “I think he’s doing perfectly fine. You know, it started from the very first day with him, when we signed him on July 1. Right from the start. In that first media scrum, the questions you guys were asking and the way people were reacting to the signing. I’ll be honest: I was very surprised and very disappointed that a new player we signed would be asked the questions that he was asked on that day. That was the start of it, and I think it was completely unfair to Jack. He’s doing fine for us.”
Boo hoo. Nearly everybody in Pittsburgh’s media appeals to Jim Rutherford's authority. It’s rare to find anybody who asks him tough questions. He’s gotten so comfortable with his treatment from media that he whines when a blatant screw up (with large amounts of evidence) is called out for what it is. Totally weak.
Don’t bother bringing up the evidence either. Rutherford is only committed to analytics for the sound bites. If he cared an ounce about them he would have never signed Johnson nor would he be making these comments
“They’ve been good together,” Rutherford said. “It’s certainly been easier for Jack, I think, playing on his natural side. Remember, though, that Jack played well when (Marcus) Pettersson got here. They were very good together for a stretch. But he was put on his right side for a lot of this season, put in some tough spots.”
Rutherford has no interest in moving Johnson and believes he can be a valuable contributor in this postseason and in years to come.
“There was an adjustment period for him, no question, at the beginning of the season,” Rutherford said. “Once he got through that, I happen to think he’s played well and I wish more people would see it that way. He was never given a chance from his first day here, and it disappoints me.”
Spare me the “advanced” analytics talk. There is nothing advanced about shot attempts and goal differential. Let’s take a glance at both of those. Let’s look at how the Penguins do with Jack Johnson on the ice versus when he is on the bench.
Wow, what a surprise! The Penguins are way better without Jack Johnson on the ice. I hope goal differential isn’t too advanced for the general manager because that is the worst one.
Well maybe he has some flaws, but he’s still able to produce offensively, right?
Among defenders who have played in 500 minutes this year he ranks 168th out of 183 at 0.38. I can’t imagine why Evgeni Malkin was susceptible to a cold streak. I can’t put my finger on what variable might be at play.
Jack Johnson isn’t in his early twenties. This is his 13th(!) NHL season. He’s now been with three different teams. He has been bad at every single stop. This isn’t a coaching problem, a systems problem, a usage problem. He stinks! If Pittsburgh was this magical place that is able to rehabilitate crappy defenseman how come Justin Schultz is the only one that is going to work outside of a few months? It’s because Justin Schultz was a usage problem. He came from Edmonton need I say any more. Trevor Daley, Jamie Oleksiak, Matt Hunwick, Jack Johnson etc… are what they are. Some of them got hot for a few months, but they always find themselves back to who they are. Jack Johnson is no exception to this. He was terrible in Los Angeles, he was terrible in Columbus, and he’s terrible in Pittsburgh.
Speaking of Matt Hunwick. Anytime you can get a player worse than him, sign him for more money, sign him for longer term, and give up a good scoring depth winger to do so you gotta do it.
Don’t give me this crap that nobody gave Jack Johnson a chance. Don’t talk down to people who use basic public information to come to easy conclusions just because you couldn’t. You royally screwed up, Jim. Your moves since June of 2017 have caused this team to regress back to the pack. You lost sight of what made this team better than all the other ones. Many will appeal to your authority. I’ll appeal to common sense. What a total fuck up.
Thanks for reading!
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