Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Rutherford trying to undo his latest obvious mistakes

October 9, 2019, 8:34 AM ET [167 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Penguins first game without Evgeni Malkin, and to a lesser extent, Nick Bjugstad did not go well. If you added the games each player on the Jets defense had in their careers (350) it wouldn’t add up to the number of games Kris Letang, Erik Gudbranson, Justin Schultz, and Jack Johnson have played. Didn’t matter. The Penguins laid an egg and got dusted by a score of 4-1 and could have been 5-1 if the Jets weren’t offsides by a millimeter.

Pittsburgh weirdly went with an 11 forward seven defense approach last night and I was struggling to find the logic why. There is no reason for the Penguins to ever do this. They are barely five defensemen deep (depending on your opinion of Gudbranson) let alone seven. The negatives of using 11 forwards showed up multiple times last night as Patric Hornqvist, Zach Aston-Reese, and Jake Guentzel all missed time and left the forward group understaffed. I don’t think they will go this route again. It isn’t something common Mike Sullivan has done in the past. When coaches get burned doing something they rarely do it is even rarer for them to circle back to it again. This approach is going to burn out Sidney Crosby over the course of weeks and hopefully it is the last time they do it.

Why did they do it? I think this might have something to do with it




The Jack Johnson news is old. The Erik Gudbranson revelation is not. I'm guessing they want to see John Marino before they try and shed some of the worst money Rutherford has spent during his tenure in Pittsburgh. Here’s the thing, you don’t have to play seven defensemen to find out how Marino will do. Stop playing Jack Johnson and put Marino in. Don’t put unneeded stress on a forward group that is already down two of their top three centers. I can’t believe these things need to be said.

Knowing Johnson and Gudbranson would be money poorly spent was predictable minutes after we all found out they were going to become Pittsburgh Penguins. They both have played hundreds of NHL games at a below average level and neither have the puck skills or offensive acumen to compliment the kind of roster Pittsburgh has. Getting rid of them would be a good thing, but it is only part of the equation. A huge reason why the Penguins are where they are is because Rutherford has no vision. How many times since 2017 has he had to “undo” a roster move about a year after he made it? Too damn many.

Matt Hunwick
Ryan Reaves
Riley Sheahan
Jamie Oleksiak
Derick Brassard
Tanner Pearson
Jack Johnson
Erik Gudbranson

There is no plan and there is no foresight. The people that credit Rutherford for moving on from mistakes don’t pay any attention to the fact the mistakes shouldn’t be made in the first place nor the cost to the Penguins farm system many of these mistakes have taken. It says a lot that Jamie Oleksiak was the most successful as a Penguin of the bunch.



Getting Jack Johnson and Erik Gudbranson and their 7.25M cap hit off the roster is objectively good. Unfortunately, it is probably going to come at a further cost. It doesn’t take into consideration the damage those acquisitions have done preventing the team from having flexibility to go after better players.

When you are frustrated with the team's play without Malkin the next month you can think about how their lack of quality depth is a direct result of the roster being mismanaged since 2017.

Thanks for reading!
Join the Discussion: » 167 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Ryan Wilson
» Penguins earn victory on Jake night
» A salute to Jake Guentzel
» Sid puts on show as Avs dig out of hole
» A dud in Dallas
» My thoughts on Dubas' thoughts