Life as a Pens fan is hard, crazy, and a never ending series of emotional ups and downs.
in short form...
2008-2009--ups
2010-2015--heartbreaking downs
2016-2017--huge ups
2018-2020--huge downs
GMJR is the most streaky GM ever.
from the start of GMJR's tenure in PIT...
June 2014--Hornqvist for Neal trade----WIN (10/10) Hornqvist was a huge part of the team since then.
Then GMJR had a few duds (Perron, Goc, Winnick)
Then GMJR went on a historic streak!!!
march 2015--Lovejoy (7/10) can't hate it. he helped us win in 2016 but wasn't a huge piece.
March 2015--Cole (8/10) love the guy. IDK why sully didn't like him. he does everything JJ/Gudbranson/Ceci did times 1,000...
July 2015--Kessel (10/10) although his shelf life expired as it had in TOR/BOS, Phil was a huge part of the cups and was a great penguin.
July 2015-Bonino (9/10) should be 10/10 for the Bonino, Bonino, Bonino, Bonino........
December 2015-Daley (8/10) for Scuderi....wow....
January 2016-hagelin (8/10) huge part of the speed game
February 2016-Schultz (7/10) one good year when the pens needed it the most.
Penguins win cup.
some minor moves...then.....
February 2017-hainsey (7/10) old but effective then. remember the end-to-end rush?
march 2017-Streit (6/10) fine veteran presence.
Pens win cup again.
this is (minus minor moves) 9 Trades almost in a row the Pens won in hindsight. incredible trading run from GMJR. but here's a thought...with the exception of the Kessel deal, were any of these trades at the time they were made thought of instantly as a big win for the pens?? I don't think so. alot of these players weren't doing good at all in their respective situations. alot of players over performed and exceeded expectations for the pens to win in 16/17. if all the players acquired played at their previous norms I doubt the pens win those cups. my point is I think because hockey is such a random game that no matter how good or bad on paper a team is, you have to get huge over performances and unexpected contributors to win a cup.
since then alot of GMJR's moves haven't worked out. but how many have been bashed at the time they were made? the Reaves trade? the Gudbranson trade? signing JJ and Ceci? but players many times have simply UNDERPERFORMED or not rebounded and "fixed" their careers as we became accustomed to in 16/17...
exhibit A---the brassard trade.....looking back what the pens gave up doesn't look at huge at it did then....but....brassard should have given us the best 3rd line in hockey and we should have 3-peated-----on paper...but he was a massive failure.
lately it kinda looked like GMJR had regained some of his magic---(which is more like luck or circumstance or players overperforming....)
examples:
marino-random college dude. like I literally said when the trade was made. who's this guy...ok whatever minor league help.. when can we get a good player? turns out he is a legit top-4 D with #1 potential. but the key is no one expected it...except maybe 1 pens scout...
Pettersson- the book is still open but for now it looks like a huge (but lucky) win....it was just a standard "2 young underperforming players get a change of scenery" trade...but Pettersson turned out...sprong did not....it could have easily gone the other way and we'd be bellowing at GMJR like a wounded hippo...(do they bellow IDK)
In the last little while GMJR hasn't been on a good or bad streak...just kinda in the middle. you win some, you lose some.
HITS-Pettersson, marino, zucker (only like 15 GP but rn it's a win),
MISSES (or in some cases more of a wash)-Galchenyuk, Bjugstad, Pearson, Gudbranson, Marleau, Sheary 2.0,
BOOK STILL OPEN--Joseph, McCann, Erod, Kapanen, Sceviour, Matheson, Ceci (FA)
this doesn't even account for OVER-PERFORMERS coming up from within.....that happened in 16 and 17. it needs to happen again. or players we have need to step up and perform at a higher level. last year it was marino, rust, jarry, buzzsaw, McCann (to an extent). a huge portion of this edition of the pens is an unknown. so many names have ???'s surrounding them--not always a good thing...but I think we need to see this team play before making a judgment call. as I said, the book is still open on alot of pens players. I hope their story has a good ending in Pittsburgh.
as I said, the book is still open. on paper it looks below average at best. I reserve judgment till after I see them play. having forwards that are strong defensively can help some with that.
I hope the pairing doesn't blow up. we saw a awful Schultz-JJ pairing so. we can't get much worse right now.
McDavid, Connor
$250,000)
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