“Few tradeable assets”.....GMRW, there are tradeable assets. Just people you don’t want to get rid of. There are many different ways the Pens can go from here, and trading is the best and most effective. Gonna have to shed salary. Period. Take what you can get for the cap room. You’re awfully sentimental for someone so “doom and gloom” all the time. Let’s cut the crap. Gonna have to make some moves that don’t look good on paper.

I see Pens picked up Y Weber on waivers. Guess some insurance D?

I'm very much a wait and see kind of person. JR did a lot of good things for this team, really fell part since signing JJ, but it can always be worse. As RW pointed out there are some GM's out there who are safe names that could really run this team into the ground hard.

Well Madden is a lout, so while that makes sense logically, I won’t take it as Bible.

I see Pens picked up Y Weber on waivers. Guess some insurance D?
- chimpira

Well they physically didn't have enough players to dress lol

Could it be a stubborn old man not liking what his bosses said to him? 🤔
- MattStrat

he took mario and burkles money and shorted GME

RW implying GMJR walked into an easy situation has a very different recollection of the situation. Yes the core pieces were there, but they had been for a while and hadn't sniffed a 2nd Cup. GMJR did a lot to overhaul the Pens into what they became.
- Tojo.

he was a magician for those first 2 years with some creative moves and some strong goddamn depth

Well they physically didn't have enough players to dress lol
- Rinosaur

When the article on TSN read “Pens sign veteran defenseman Weber”, I thought it was Shea LOL.

My final thoughts on Rutherford:

The years following the second Cup were frustrating as hell and involved a lot of self inflicted wounds that knee capped a solidly built team that just needed to retool some spare parts in order to stay competitive. Assets that could have been used acquiring key pieces were instead used to either get bad players or fix unforced errors, leaving us in the position we are now where the supporting cast isn’t good enough to shoulder enough of the scoring burden as our stars continue to age, and with no assets or cap to improve said supporting cast. Beyond that, I think Rutherford didn’t handle some of the relationship side of things very gracefully, which is supposed to be his forte. All in all, these last few years have been an unmitigated disaster.

All that being said, the situation that Rutherford inherited wasn’t quite as easy as RW makes it out to be. Our team had totally gone stale and Shero also had bleed our cupboard dry with drunken sailor-esqu deadline trades. It wasn’t clear to many of us how we could turn the ship around quick enough to still catch the tail end of Sid and Geno’s prime, and most people outside of our fan base had for the most part dismissed the Pens as has beens. After taking an assessment year, Rutherford was able to string together two calendar years of a coherent vision with effective trades and an effective coaching change when it was needed. We turned from a team on pace to miss the playoffs into the best team in the league by the analytics seemingly overnight. And the team that was built was so good and deep that the next year we were able to score our way to a second Cup despite losing our ability to drive play due to the Letang injury destroying our blue line.

2015/2016 was the most fun I’ve ever had following hockey. We felt like the team of destiny and indomitable. I could run through a brick wall after daddying the Rangers in round 1 and chasing Lundqvist (who never really went back to being good after that series) after getting bounced by them in embarrassing fashion two years in a row prior. 2016/2017 felt less magical but back to back Cups is something that no other team has accomplished in the cap era.

I’ll remember Rutherford for those memories and try my best to forget everything that happened 2017/2018 and on. I’m happy we’ve moved on, but now that he’s in the rear view I’d prefer to remember the positives with him.

My final thoughts on Rutherford:

The years following the second Cup were frustrating as hell and involved a lot of self inflicted wounds that knee capped a solidly built team that just needed to retool some spare parts in order to stay competitive. Assets that could have been used acquiring key pieces were instead used to either get bad players or fix unforced errors, leaving us in the position we are now where the supporting cast isn’t good enough to shoulder enough of the scoring burden as our stars continue to age, and with no assets or cap to improve said supporting cast. Beyond that, I think Rutherford didn’t handle some of the relationship side of things very gracefully, which is supposed to be his forte. All in all, these last few years have been an unmitigated disaster.

All that being said, the situation that Rutherford inherited wasn’t quite as easy as RW makes it out to be. Our team had totally gone stale and Shero also had bleed our cupboard dry with drunken sailor-esqu deadline trades. It wasn’t clear to many of us how we could turn the ship around quick enough to still catch the tail end of Sid and Geno’s prime, and most people outside of our fan base had for the most part dismissed the Pens as has beens. After taking an assessment year, Rutherford was able to string together two calendar years of a coherent vision with effective trades and an effective coaching change when it was needed. We turned from a team on pace to miss the playoffs into the best team in the league by the analytics seemingly overnight. And the team that was built was so good and deep that the next year we were able to score our way to a second Cup despite losing our ability to drive play due to the Letang injury destroying our blue line.

2015/2016 was the most fun I’ve ever had following hockey. We felt like the team of destiny and indomitable. I could run through a brick wall after daddying the Rangers in round 1 and chasing Lundqvist (who never really went back to being good after that series) after getting bounced by them in embarrassing fashion two years in a row prior. 2016/2017 felt less magical but back to back Cups is something that no other team has accomplished in the cap era.

I’ll remember Rutherford for those memories and try my best to forget everything that happened 2017/2018 and on. I’m happy we’ve moved on, but now that he’s in the rear view I’d prefer to remember the positives with him.
- Victoro311

Couldn't have said it better, nice write up!

When the article on TSN read “Pens sign veteran defenseman Weber”, I thought it was Shea LOL.
- chimpira

That would be awesome lol

As far as the next GM goes, I really hope the Penguins don't play it safe. Bringing a guy like Chia or Talon is bad for obvious reasons just because they're incredibly ungood at their jobs, but beyond that we need a guy who can extract value from assets and not just come in and curate the existing team by adding veterans here or there on the fringes. The time is coming where the Crosby/Malkin Era will end, and while I want Sid and Geno, and to a lesser extent Letang to have a blank check to finish their careers here if they want to, there will still be some high value players in the middle or towards the end of their primes that will probably need to be traded in the ensuing rebuild. Guentzel and Marino come immediately to mind. Possibly Jarry if he doesn't suffer from the ever so common goalie volatility. Rust and Dumoulin if they're resigned and don't fall off a cliff. Our next GM should be someone who can manage those decisions about whether or not a player should be traded and what for well. Bringing in an old guard retread GM that just want's to make the team as competitive as possible any given year despite not having the tentpoles of a contender will really retard what's already probably going to be a lengthy rebuild.

I find this blog funny "leaving the penguins high and dry" to pretty much bash Rutherford. Its a business get over it. He has full right if he wants to quit and leave at any time thats up to him. Just like the pens could fire him at any time and I wouldnt be mad at the penguins. There is assistant GMs hired by teams for a reason...

Anyways my top 3 choices for the new GM... Mike Futa, Ron Hextall, Laurence Gilman. Id be very happy with all 3.

I find this blog funny "leaving the penguins high and dry" to pretty much bash Rutherford. Its a business get over it. He has full right if he wants to quit and leave at any time thats up to him. Just like the pens could fire him at any time and I wouldnt be mad at the penguins. There is assistant GMs hired by teams for a reason...

Anyways my top 3 choices for the new GM... Mike Futa, Ron Hextall, Laurence Gilman. Id be very happy with all 3.
- pens4life-66

Never in a million years are we getting Hextall.

This is good news. I think JR did great work in his first few years and really brought positive change.

But I think his ego took over a bit and he was more interested in paper changes than team chemistry. Its a hockey TEAM and a lot of guys don't want to constantly see guys shipped out. Listen to Malkins comments last year.

I am guessing the final straw was a kibashed trade. Just wish he was let go prior to this offseason before the Horny trade and Ceci signing.

GMJR and HCMS did not see eye to eye, and after our four fragile defensemen went down last night, he said, why am I doing this. It was evident with some of his rosters moves the head coach undermined him. If we haven’t noticed, the world is a mess, and this guy has accomplished pretty much everything you can achieve as a GM! Time to spend the money and move on.

Never in a million years are we getting Hextall.
- Victoro311

I thought it before RW even mentioned it, but I fear Chia is coming to town.

I thought it before RW even mentioned it, but I fear Chia is coming to town.
- Rinosaur

At some point people have to realize that Chia is horrendous right? Like he's failed so hilariously so frequently in the past decade and the Bruins' Cup is ancient history. Call me crazy, but I really don't think he gets another job

Besides a few trades like Brassard and signing some poopty D I overall appreciated having a gunslinger as a GM. Kind of made things fun. He wasn’t just making trades and signing guys to give them jobs. In his mind he was always looking to improve the team weather he actually was or wasn’t. He wasn’t some patsy just trying to tread water and keep a paycheck(obviously), which I respect.

Never in a million years are we getting Hextall.
- Victoro311

Lol I was thinking that too, no (frank)ing way. Hell would freeze over.

I heard that GMJR was working out a trade with the Rangers for Jack Johnson, but was vetoed by ownership, so he threw a tantrum and quit.

I'll always give Rutherford credit for the two Cups, especially the first. He made a string of good moves that helped make that happen. But since then it's been mostly bad moves. Bad trades, wasted draft picks, and costly fixes. I think it's a good thing to move on. I can't believe they would be dumb enough to hire Chiarelli. He was clearly awful. Tallon would be a mistake too. Track record is not great. I would't mind Hextall at all. He did a very good job building up the Flyers and a lot of his moves are why they are so good right now. I think they fired him too soon. He's a good evaluator of talent for a team looking to retool/rebuild which the Pens aren't yet. But they may be in two or three years - a full rebuild. I don't know, this is a critical hire for the team. They want to stay competitive for now but they can't keep mortgaging the future like they have been. A bad hire here and we may see some dark times again like 2003-2005.

he took mario and burkles money and shorted GME
- DeflatedPucks

Lolol

At some point people have to realize that Chia is horrendous right? Like he's failed so hilariously so frequently in the past decade and the Bruins' Cup is ancient history. Call me crazy, but I really don't think he gets another job
- Victoro311

You'd think that. It's a certainly logical thought process, but this league and the teams are anything but logical. When you've been either a coach or GM who's won a Stanley Cup, no matter how badly you've performed after those championships, you'll still be regarded as someone who knows how to win and always gifted a mulligan.

It’s starting to sound like a contract dispute. JR wanted an extension and the Pens said not now. At least this is what DK just said.