Comments on: How The Pittsburgh Penguins Were Ruined, In 3 Easy Steps

By: Kevin Creagh

Kevin Creagh — Tue, 28 Jun 2016 20:01:31 +0000

At the time this particular article was written (12/31/15), the Pens were still floundering to learn Mike Sullivan’s system. They were still emerging from the malaise of the Mike Johnston era. This was prior to trading for Carl Hagelin, just a couple of weeks after hoodwinking the Hawks to take Scuderi, and before Sheary/Rust injected the lineup with more speed.

The points that were made in this article — bad extensions by Shero to Kunitz, Dupuis (whose LTIR cap replacement is not discussed often enough for helping to free up $3.75M), and Scuderi hampered this team.

Yes, I am willing to eat crow on Rutherford having the game passed him by, but he also managed to hit on every single move he made this season. There a dose of luck mixed in with a lot of skill, although I will continue to contend that Jason Botteril has had more influence.

Do I look stupid? Uh, OK? Winning the Cup erases all interest in that, especially with a huge does of 20/20 hindsight on your part. Would you have typed the same comment if the Pens lost to the Caps or Lightning? Or the Sharks?

By: Deeeeeeeeeeeee

Deeeeeeeeeeeee — Tue, 28 Jun 2016 18:16:38 +0000

Boy do you look stupid now huh? You were right at the time on a lot of these points and Despres for Lovejoy is still a big loser but what a difference 6 months makes as I sit here near the end of June this year still celebrating the Penguins dominant run to the stanley cup. I always felt they were still close. The window everyone said was shutting is wide open now and will be for at least 5 more seasons. Crosby needs 1 more cup to reach legendary status and with the Blackhawks and Kings in serious trouble roster wise dure to salary cap casualties the cup is up for grabs again this year.

By: Tugena

Tugena — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 02:38:53 +0000

Nice article. I agree with almost all of it. Playing Iggy out of position was flat out stupid. I always thought that Sid did not want him on his line and that was the reason he played the left side. I did not think that was Ray’s fault. I blamed Dan for letting Sid dictate his line. I have since been told that’s not the case but I have no real sources.
Rutherford’s biggest sin in my eyes is giving up Simon Despres for Ben Lovejoy. i can get over that one. Phil Kessel is a great player. The Penguins team is filled with great players. The trap and lack of proper penalty calling is not helping this team. The 2-1 and 1-0 games are hard to watch. I am not sure why they can’t come together as a team equal to its parts. 66 said the NHL is a garage league. I say it’s a boring league. I do not think Rutherford is the reason the team is struggling. A team with Sid, Geno, Kessel, Letang, Matta, Flower, etc should be doing better. I blame the league. Scoring is down across the board. The NHL flat out blows.