Rutherford vs. Rossi

[B21]

I usually like Rossi and Rutherford was wrong to lash out at him but I can't help but think Rossi is acting just a little too smug here; like he couldn't wait to write this after the encounter.

 

I'm in the minority but other than the Depres/Lovejoy trade, I don't have a problem with any of Rutherford's moves.  

 

If I had to assign "blame" for how this season has transpired for the Pens (I don't seem them getting past the Rangers now), it would be something like this...

 

Injuries: 50% 

Coaching: 25% 

Players: 15% 

Personnel/GM: 10%

 

 

By Rob Rossi

Monday, April 20, 2015, 11:39 p.m.
Updated 1 hour ago

 

Crisis is supposed to reveal true character, right?

 

General manager Jim Rutherford lost his cool after the Penguins' 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Monday night to fall within two defeats of a first-round elimination in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

After exiting a media elevator and while walking with other reporters to the Penguins' dressing room, Rutherford addressed this columnist, a frequent critic since his hiring last June, in an obscenity-laced diatribe.

 

“Thanks for your support,” Rutherford said repeatedly.

 

“You're a (expletive) jerk,” Rutherford said repeatedly.

 

Rutherford followed the jerk comment with a suggestion to “go sell ice cream now,” then a challenge to look him in the eye, which I did while explaining my role as Trib Total Media's lead sports columnist.

 

My role is to provide opinion.

 

“Well, your opinion is (expletive),” Rutherford said.

 

As (expletive) as my opinion might be, it remains that Rutherford has botched an attempted retooling of the Penguins. If this unfortunate incident is any indication, he lacks the poise necessary to move that project foward.

 

Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, the Penguins' majority co-owners who attended Game 3 at Consol Energy Center, should make the call to hand over Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury to a general manager who cares less about what a columnist writes and more about the salary cap.

 

And Rutherford either doesn't care about or can't figure out that salary cap.

 

That's the only sense I can make of his Penguins having to play five of their final seven regular-season games with only five defensemen. Too close to the cap after the NHL trade deadline, the Penguins could not sustain injuries to defensemen Kris Letang and Christian Ehrhoff.

Rutherford inherited Letang and his $7.25 million cap hit.

 

But he added Ehrhoff, at a cost of $4 million against the cap, even though the last thing the Penguins needed last offseason was another veteran defenseman. Ray Shero, Rutherford's predecessor, had spent a majority of his draft picks stocking the Penguins' farm system with defensemen.

 

So, yeah, Rutherford's signing of Ehrhoff only enhanced my opinion that he was not qualified to improve the Penguins, who had stagnated under Shero's leadership after reaching the Cup Final in 2008, then winning the Cup in '09.

The day Rutherford was announced as general manager, I asked him about his final five years as GM with Carolina. In those years, Carolina never reached the playoffs.

 

Since the NHL instituted a salary cap for the 2005-06 season, only three of Rutherford's teams have qualified for the playoffs. The Hurricanes won the Cup in 2006 and lost to the Penguins in the '09 Eastern final.

 

Nine of the Penguins who dressed against the Rangers in Game 3, including backup goalie Thomas Greiss, were brought to the organization by Rutherford. He has brazenly continued Shero's penchant for trading draft picks for players to help the Penguins win now.

But the Penguins aren't winning now.

 

A top-four Eastern seed in each of the previous seven years, they did not qualify for the playoffs until the final night of the regular season and are in the postseason as the No. 8 seed.

 

A franchise branded for its offensive prowess, co-owned by the team's all-time leading scorer in Lemieux and employing two former two-time scoring champions in Crosby and Malkin, the Penguins finished 19th in goals during the regular season.

 

They have scored only two goals in their two losses to the Rangers during this series, which they likely would trail, 0-3, if not for Crosby's two-goal surge in a 4-3 win in Game 2 on Saturday night.

 

Have injuries derailed Rutherford's best-laid plans?

 

Absolutely.

 

But the Penguins' 343 man-games lost in the regular season were considerably fewer than the league-leading 529 in the last year of Shero's tenure.

 

Shero's final team won its division, albeit against weaker competition, and came within a win of returning to the Eastern final.

 

Under Rutherford, the Penguins have regressed.

 

They need a leader.

 

And on Monday night, Rutherford's behavior was far short of that.

 

[mojo1917]

The way Rossi acts in that column I thought he may auditioning for the "Sam Carchidi" role in Philly.

 

I guess it is one thing to have the access and report, and quite another to have  access and editorialize.

I wonder what purpose  including the "dressing down" encounter served the column ?

[Polaris922]

I don't have any issue with what's written here. I was against Erhoff but figured he knew more than I do. That turned into wasted cap space.

I disliked the Downie signing.

I disliked the Carcillo tryout.

I disliked the Depres / Lovejoy trade.

The cap management at the end of the season.

I dislike quite a bit, actually.

[notfondajane]

I usually like Rossi and Rutherford was wrong to lash out at him but I can't help but think Rossi is acting just a little too smug here; like he couldn't wait to write this after the encounter.

 

I'm in the minority but other than the Depres/Lovejoy trade, I don't have a problem with any of Rutherford's moves.  

 

If I had to assign "blame" for how this season has transpired for the Pens (I don't seem them getting past the Rangers now), it would be something like this...

 

Injuries: 50% 

Coaching: 25% 

Players: 15% 

Personnel/GM: 10%

 

 

By Rob Rossi

Monday, April 20, 2015, 11:39 p.m.Updated 1 hour ago 

Crisis is supposed to reveal true character, right?

 

General manager Jim Rutherford lost his cool after the Penguins' 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Monday night to fall within two defeats of a first-round elimination in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

After exiting a media elevator and while walking with other reporters to the Penguins' dressing room, Rutherford addressed this columnist, a frequent critic since his hiring last June, in an obscenity-laced diatribe.

 

“Thanks for your support,” Rutherford said repeatedly.

 

“You're a (expletive) jerk,” Rutherford said repeatedly.

 

Rutherford followed the jerk comment with a suggestion to “go sell ice cream now,” then a challenge to look him in the eye, which I did while explaining my role as Trib Total Media's lead sports columnist.

 

My role is to provide opinion.

 

“Well, your opinion is (expletive),” Rutherford said.

 

As (expletive) as my opinion might be, it remains that Rutherford has botched an attempted retooling of the Penguins. If this unfortunate incident is any indication, he lacks the poise necessary to move that project foward.

 

Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, the Penguins' majority co-owners who attended Game 3 at Consol Energy Center, should make the call to hand over Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury to a general manager who cares less about what a columnist writes and more about the salary cap.

 

And Rutherford either doesn't care about or can't figure out that salary cap.

 

That's the only sense I can make of his Penguins having to play five of their final seven regular-season games with only five defensemen. Too close to the cap after the NHL trade deadline, the Penguins could not sustain injuries to defensemen Kris Letang and Christian Ehrhoff.

Rutherford inherited Letang and his $7.25 million cap hit.

 

But he added Ehrhoff, at a cost of $4 million against the cap, even though the last thing the Penguins needed last offseason was another veteran defenseman. Ray Shero, Rutherford's predecessor, had spent a majority of his draft picks stocking the Penguins' farm system with defensemen.

 

So, yeah, Rutherford's signing of Ehrhoff only enhanced my opinion that he was not qualified to improve the Penguins, who had stagnated under Shero's leadership after reaching the Cup Final in 2008, then winning the Cup in '09.

The day Rutherford was announced as general manager, I asked him about his final five years as GM with Carolina. In those years, Carolina never reached the playoffs.

 

Since the NHL instituted a salary cap for the 2005-06 season, only three of Rutherford's teams have qualified for the playoffs. The Hurricanes won the Cup in 2006 and lost to the Penguins in the '09 Eastern final.

 

Nine of the Penguins who dressed against the Rangers in Game 3, including backup goalie Thomas Greiss, were brought to the organization by Rutherford. He has brazenly continued Shero's penchant for trading draft picks for players to help the Penguins win now.

But the Penguins aren't winning now.

 

A top-four Eastern seed in each of the previous seven years, they did not qualify for the playoffs until the final night of the regular season and are in the postseason as the No. 8 seed.

 

A franchise branded for its offensive prowess, co-owned by the team's all-time leading scorer in Lemieux and employing two former two-time scoring champions in Crosby and Malkin, the Penguins finished 19th in goals during the regular season.

 

They have scored only two goals in their two losses to the Rangers during this series, which they likely would trail, 0-3, if not for Crosby's two-goal surge in a 4-3 win in Game 2 on Saturday night.

 

Have injuries derailed Rutherford's best-laid plans?

 

Absolutely.

 

But the Penguins' 343 man-games lost in the regular season were considerably fewer than the league-leading 529 in the last year of Shero's tenure.

 

Shero's final team won its division, albeit against weaker competition, and came within a win of returning to the Eastern final.

 

Under Rutherford, the Penguins have regressed.

 

They need a leader.

 

And on Monday night, Rutherford's behavior was far short of that.

the Pens need to upgrade management before the draft and hopefully make a few good trades to get some of those draft picks replaced. Trading picks is trading the future for a first round exit. Eighth seed. Pffft.

[Lionel Hutz]

Rossi is a clown shoe, All he's done all year is whine and cry his buddies Ray and Dan got fired, Good on Jimmy for flipping out on him. Rossi is by far the most unprofessional hack of a "reporter", also as DK said stuff like this happens all the time, Rossi just wrote an emo post about how the cranky old meanie called him a bad word and hurt his feelings, Do us all a favor and when your 2 other joke BFFs get hired by Toronto go follow them and apply for the Star or Sun you jackoff,

[Lionel Hutz]

Lets see he CONSTANTLY posts incorrect information for web hits, He retweeted a fake Pierre LeBrun account that reported Sutter, Polliout, Bennet and a 1st for Kesler last year and said he was putting the finishing touches on his article breaking the trade down before frigging Colby Armstrong of all people said he was an idiot and the twitter account was fake, He always states the Pens are looking for an "F3" in his articles when an F3 is the term coaches use in their forchecking schemes not an actual player typle like a grinder or power forword, ect. All "Insider information" he reports is stolen from HFBoards.com trade propoals or Eklund's site, No player or anyone in the organization wants to deal with him.

[Polaris922]

See I don't follow anything Rossi writes so reading this article I just get face value and I have no problem with it. Lol

[ruxpin]

Rossi is a clown shoe

 

LOL.  I've never heard this, but I like it.  Do you have any copyright on it or may I steal it?

[Lionel Hutz]

LOL.  I've never heard this, but I like it.  Do you have any copyright on it or may I steal it?

Go ahead, I did, It's a line from Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back:

"Jay and Silent Bob are terrible, one-note jokes that only stoners laugh at. They're ******* clown shoes. If they were real, I'd beat the s*it out of them for being so stupid. I can't believe Miramax would have anything to do with this s*it."

[Lionel Hutz]

[Polaris922]

Hahaha!

[nossagog]

Lets see he CONSTANTLY posts incorrect information for web hits, He retweeted a fake Pierre LeBrun account that reported Sutter, Polliout, Bennet and a 1st for Kesler last year and said he was putting the finishing touches on his article breaking the trade down before frigging Colby Armstrong of all people said he was an idiot and the twitter account was fake, He always states the Pens are looking for an "F3" in his articles when an F3 is the term coaches use in their forchecking schemes not an actual player typle like a grinder or power forword, ect. All "Insider information" he reports is stolen from HFBoards.com trade propoals or Eklund's site, No player or anyone in the organization wants to deal with him.

Yeah, I don't think that there are too many people who have much respect for Rossi.   I wouldn't believe anything he says. I'm pretty sure he was pushed out of the Pens beat writer position because of his nonsensical articles and pure speculation in order to get people to talk about him.

[Lionel Hutz]

Yeah, I don't think that there are too many people who have much respect for Rossi.   I wouldn't believe anything he says. I'm pretty sure he was pushed out of the Pens beat writer position because of his nonsensical articles and pure speculation in order to get people to talk about him.

The day he gets his press pass revoked will be a great day for not only hockey but mankind.

[nossagog]

Keeping with the Rossi theme, he wrote an article today saying that the Pens should resign Martin. 

http://triblive.com/sports/penguins/8223542-74/martin-penguins-hockey#axzz3YSaSLIC4

   

WTF is he thinking, or smoking.    Martin is a shell of himself and has become a liability defensively.  Fact is that his deficiencies have been hidden by playing with Letang the past two years.    Look at the playoffs, no Letang to move the puck for him and he couldn't get out of his own way.   He was never physical, and constant fishes for pucks instead of taking the body(look at game 4 winning goal)

 

Not only does he say that they should resign him, but that he'd probably get a raise?   We're already stuck with one slow defenseman, we don't need to sign another and a hugh cap cost.    Sorry Paul,  I appreciated some of your time here, but we have some young studs that can skater rings around you.  Have a nice day.

[Polaris922]

@nossagog

I'll defend Martin here. He had a great season defensively. He definitely got caught looking in game 4 though no doubt. Would I like to keep him? Yes. Would it be anywhere near his current salary? Heck no!

[notfondajane]

I remember when Wayne Gretzky called the New Jersey Devils a Mickey Mouse operations, I wonder if he mistook them as the Pittsburgh Penguins! LOL

[B21]

@nossagog

I'll defend Martin here. He had a great season defensively. He definitely got caught looking in game 4 though no doubt. Would I like to keep him? Yes. Would it be anywhere near his current salary? Heck no!

 

Maybe....MAYBE...if the money is a lot less and it's 1-2 years.  That said - someone will offer him more which is fine by me.  Our depth (and youth) is at D. No need to hold the "kids" back another year AND spend money against the cap that can be better spent elsewhere (i.e. - top 6 forward).

[notfondajane]

Maybe....MAYBE...if the money is a lot less and it's 1-2 years.  That said - someone will offer him more which is fine by me.  Our depth (and youth) is at D. No need to hold the "kids" back another year AND spend money against the cap that can be better spent elsewhere (i.e. - top 6 forward).

maybe a goaltender that could stop a puck from about ten feet especially in the Playoffs!

[B21]

Keeping with the Rossi theme, he wrote an article today saying that the Pens should resign Martin. 

http://triblive.com/sports/penguins/8223542-74/martin-penguins-hockey#axzz3YSaSLIC4

   

WTF is he thinking, or smoking.    Martin is a shell of himself and has become a liability defensively.  Fact is that his deficiencies have been hidden by playing with Letang the past two years.    Look at the playoffs, no Letang to move the puck for him and he couldn't get out of his own way.   He was never physical, and constant fishes for pucks instead of taking the body(look at game 4 winning goal)

 

Not only does he say that they should resign him, but that he'd probably get a raise?   We're already stuck with one slow defenseman, we don't need to sign another and a hugh cap cost.    Sorry Paul,  I appreciated some of your time here, but we have some young studs that can skater rings around you.  Have a nice day.

 

To borrow from another poster....

 

Clown. Shoe.

[Polaris922]

@B21. I feel so much smarter thanks to that one special feature. Just wish it eliminated ANY mention of the poster at all.

[notfondajane]

I usually like Rossi and Rutherford was wrong to lash out at him but I can't help but think Rossi is acting just a little too smug here; like he couldn't wait to write this after the encounter.

 

I'm in the minority but other than the Depres/Lovejoy trade, I don't have a problem with any of Rutherford's moves.  

 

If I had to assign "blame" for how this season has transpired for the Pens (I don't seem them getting past the Rangers now), it would be something like this...

 

Injuries: 50% 

Coaching: 25% 

Players: 15% 

Personnel/GM: 10%

 

 

By Rob Rossi

Monday, April 20, 2015, 11:39 p.m.Updated 1 hour ago 

Crisis is supposed to reveal true character, right?

 

General manager Jim Rutherford lost his cool after the Penguins' 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Monday night to fall within two defeats of a first-round elimination in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

After exiting a media elevator and while walking with other reporters to the Penguins' dressing room, Rutherford addressed this columnist, a frequent critic since his hiring last June, in an obscenity-laced diatribe.

 

“Thanks for your support,” Rutherford said repeatedly.

 

“You're a (expletive) jerk,” Rutherford said repeatedly.

 

Rutherford followed the jerk comment with a suggestion to “go sell ice cream now,” then a challenge to look him in the eye, which I did while explaining my role as Trib Total Media's lead sports columnist.

 

My role is to provide opinion.

 

“Well, your opinion is (expletive),” Rutherford said.

 

As (expletive) as my opinion might be, it remains that Rutherford has botched an attempted retooling of the Penguins. If this unfortunate incident is any indication, he lacks the poise necessary to move that project foward.

 

Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, the Penguins' majority co-owners who attended Game 3 at Consol Energy Center, should make the call to hand over Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury to a general manager who cares less about what a columnist writes and more about the salary cap.

 

And Rutherford either doesn't care about or can't figure out that salary cap.

 

That's the only sense I can make of his Penguins having to play five of their final seven regular-season games with only five defensemen. Too close to the cap after the NHL trade deadline, the Penguins could not sustain injuries to defensemen Kris Letang and Christian Ehrhoff.

Rutherford inherited Letang and his $7.25 million cap hit.

 

But he added Ehrhoff, at a cost of $4 million against the cap, even though the last thing the Penguins needed last offseason was another veteran defenseman. Ray Shero, Rutherford's predecessor, had spent a majority of his draft picks stocking the Penguins' farm system with defensemen.

 

So, yeah, Rutherford's signing of Ehrhoff only enhanced my opinion that he was not qualified to improve the Penguins, who had stagnated under Shero's leadership after reaching the Cup Final in 2008, then winning the Cup in '09.

The day Rutherford was announced as general manager, I asked him about his final five years as GM with Carolina. In those years, Carolina never reached the playoffs.

 

Since the NHL instituted a salary cap for the 2005-06 season, only three of Rutherford's teams have qualified for the playoffs. The Hurricanes won the Cup in 2006 and lost to the Penguins in the '09 Eastern final.

 

Nine of the Penguins who dressed against the Rangers in Game 3, including backup goalie Thomas Greiss, were brought to the organization by Rutherford. He has brazenly continued Shero's penchant for trading draft picks for players to help the Penguins win now.

But the Penguins aren't winning now.

 

A top-four Eastern seed in each of the previous seven years, they did not qualify for the playoffs until the final night of the regular season and are in the postseason as the No. 8 seed.

 

A franchise branded for its offensive prowess, co-owned by the team's all-time leading scorer in Lemieux and employing two former two-time scoring champions in Crosby and Malkin, the Penguins finished 19th in goals during the regular season.

 

They have scored only two goals in their two losses to the Rangers during this series, which they likely would trail, 0-3, if not for Crosby's two-goal surge in a 4-3 win in Game 2 on Saturday night.

 

Have injuries derailed Rutherford's best-laid plans?

 

Absolutely.

 

But the Penguins' 343 man-games lost in the regular season were considerably fewer than the league-leading 529 in the last year of Shero's tenure.

 

Shero's final team won its division, albeit against weaker competition, and came within a win of returning to the Eastern final.

 

Under Rutherford, the Penguins have regressed.

 

They need a leader.

 

And on Monday night, Rutherford's behavior was far short of that.

[/quote I would agree that he should have had better control of his emotions!

[B21]

@B21. I feel so much smarter thanks to that one special feature. Just wish it eliminated ANY mention of the poster at all.

 

More than one way to skin a clown shoe.