What did Jim Rutherford ever do?

"This blog can fuck itself, for all I care" - Jim Rutherford

This time I'm flying blind. I admittedly don't know much about the Penguins. I don't think I do, I won't pretend I do. I know very little about Penguins' GM Jim Rutherford. So, I just assume he stinks - because all GM's stink, to some degree. So, I am going to take a year-by-year look back over Jim Rutherford's entire NHL General Manager career.

Rutherford started his hockey career as a goalie in the Red Wings organization. After his retirement as a player, he joined the Whalers, from Hartford, as a General Manager. This guy has 3 Stanley Cups, and I'm about to be completely unfair about the little depth deals he has made over the course of his career.

This is the 3rd in a multi-part series "What did _____ ever do?" where I rank the performance of NHL GM's. We take into consideration how the GM chose to handle the NHL Entry draft and any transactions made over the year. The first subject, Lou Lamoriello, scored a paltry 53% (160 points out of a possible 300), and the second, Peter Chiarelli, scored a similar 52.77%. It's possible I'm unfair and biased. 

Looking at Jim's entire career has taught me a couple things about the guy. First of all, he is - like all GM's it seems - terrible at the draft. It is only in situations where a monkey could pick the right player that we really see any consistency in the picks. That, and when it's likely he has a lot of help, like in 2015-16. I almost wonder with that year if he had draft reports from the previous management team and used that in conjunction with his own. 

Jim's not good at the draft, and he's just ok at the trade table. More often than not you see him acquire and trade or trade and acquire the same player over the course of one season. 

What he does have an eye for is coaching. With the exception of Mike Johnston, Rutherford has done well adding the right coach to a team. While he may have held on to some players for too long, overall, I think he has definitely built at least 1 fantastic team. Doing everything for the Hurricanes when they needed support at every position can't be overlooked and I think it's more than most GM's can say they've accomplished. 

Jim's Overall Grade: 50.43% (116/230)

The draft really affected Jim. And it should. He spent most of his career in a $0 market and that's how these teams achieve anything. You can't spend big if the dollars aren't there, and they simply aren't there in Carolina. Hi got the points he deserved for adding Cam Ward, Eric Staal and eventually Skinner and Slavin to the team, but over the course of a 23 year career, that only adds up to so much. 

1994-1995: The lovely Hartford Whalers - 19-24-5 (43 pts, 5th in Northeast)

Alright! First season is a lockout shortened one. Now, admittedly, I like to be fair with a first season because a manager is coming in to a new situation, implementing a new direction and trying to get their team to where they want. Jim did all of this. 

1994 was a long ass time ago, I wasn't even in kindygarter, and Jim Rutherford had hair (ok, no he didn't, but it's not fair to make fun of a guy for that). The team actually looked pretty decent. They had players like Geoff Sanderson, Chris Pronger, Brad McCrimmon, and tender Sean Burke. All of that made for a decent team, in a terrible market, with sick threads. 

So we've set the scene, now let's over analyze all of Jim Rutherford's moves. Starting at the draft.

'94 Draft:

1. (5) Jeff O'Neill, 4. (83) Hnat Domenichelli, 5. (109) Ryan Risidore, Then they don't pick until Round 8. 

Jeff O'Neill was a good player, even though he has a really big fat head, and the roll on his eyebrows looks kind of like a hot dog. But, again, that's pretty rude, and it's not his fault (it's his fault). 

O-Dog put up insane junior numbers and was basically a sure thing for the top 5 of this year's draft. He even gave Hartford a couple real good years, until they relocated and he continued to give them basically the rest of his career. 

It would be easy to say the Whalers should have taken Ryan Smyth, who was definitely an all around better player, OR Jose Theodore, OR Patrik Elias, but realistically, O'Neill - as much as I don't like him - was a good predictable pick at #5. 

Milan Hjeduk was available in the 4th round and Marty Turco was available in the 5th. One good pick in the top 5 of the draft really doesn't do much for me. 

'94 Transactions:

Acquired: Glen Wesley, Glen Featherstone, Michael Stewart, 1995 1st rd pick, 1996 4th rd pick

Traded: Pat Verbeek, 1995 1st (Kyle McLaren), 1996 1st (Jonathan Aitken), 1997 1st (Sergei Samsonov)

Free Agents Signed: Steven Rice*, Jimmy Carson

Waiver Claims: Kelly Chase, Brian Glynn

Jim gave up Pat Verbeek for basically nothing. Now, this is a big problem because he was a career 1,0000 point player and would keep it up for a long time before his retirement. A guy that definitely would have been valuable to the Canes. Terrible loss for Rutherford

Glen Wesley was an interesting pick up. Though his numbers immediately declined after they traded (a lot) for him, he played basically the entirety of his career in Carolina and obviously fell in love with the city. He finished his career as a pretty even shot share player, even though he wasn't producing himself. I say this is a good pickup, but at what cost?

Well, Sergei Samsonov was one of the picks that went back, and I want to look at him specifically, because he was the best of the three picks that Hartford gave up. He was easily the more skilled player in the trade, but he because he did end up playing with Carolina - eventually -, I think this trade is a draw. 

One note (*) is that the Whalers signed Steven Rice as an RFA and lost Bryan Marchment as compensation, back when that was a thing. Rice was worth less than 90 points to the Whalers in his 4 seasons there (before being played out of the league). Marchment was a serious liability to other players health and well-being, like we are talking a world class piece of shit, and he would have a long and unproductive career. Steven Rice was well worth the loss on this one. Even though he wasn't worth much.

So far it looks like this bastard knows what he's doing...sort of.

Jim's Grade: 4/10

1995-1996: Introducing Paul Maurice - 34-39-9 (77 pts, 4th in Northeast)

Hartford added Hall of Famer Brendan Shanahan this year and immediately he led the team in scoring. This was also the year that Chris Osgood scored a goal against them. 

Again, Hartford relied on defensemen like Brad McCrimmon, and veteran Glen Wesley to backup forwards like Geoff Sanderson, Kevin Dineen, Sami Kapanen, and the above mentioned Shanahan. This would be Jeff O'Neill's first year in the league after being drafted 5th overall. He put up a very very modest 27 points in 65 games. 

Ryan Smyth, the 6th overall pick in the same draft, gave the Oilers (of Edmonton) 11 in 48 games. 

So, Rutherford fired Paul Holmgren in favor of the much much younger Paul Maurice (who still somehow isn't old). I heard on the Steve Dangle podcast something about Maurice having a career SAV% of .904. That is so brutal. So, let's not call Maurice a bad hire. I don't think he is, and going with a young coach is a forward thinking move that most GM's don't make. 

So, let's look at Jim's draft.

'95 Draft:

1. (13) Jean-Sebastien Giguere, 2. (35) Sergei Fedotov, 4. (85) Ian McNeil, 4. (87) Sami Kapanen, some other guys. 

The Whalers took a great - future cup winning - goalie in the first round. JSG would go on to post a career .913 save percentage in 262 wins. That would include a Stanley Cup. If only Rutherford had the foresight to stick with the guy they drafted. Giguere was quickly out of Hartford. How quick? Well, he played 8 games with the club. 

That's a huge problem. You get 8 games out of your first round pick. When you take the - likely - best goaltender in the draft, you have to give a guy like that more of a chance. Seeing how his career worked out, this was an absolute waste of a pick for the Whales. 

Sergei Fedotov only SOUNDS like Sergei Fedorov. Different guy (I assume, only one has a wikipedia page).

Kapanen in the 4th round is an absolute steal, but it was also a shot in the dark and you HAVE to convert on your first round picks. Otherwise, you might as well not even show up.

'95 Transactions

Acquired: Brendan Shanahan, Darren Turcotte, 1996 9th rd pick, Kevin Dineen, Jim Dowd, Jeff Brown

Traded: Chris Pronger, Nelson Emerson, Jocelyn Lemieux, future considerations, 1998 2nd (John Erskine), Jim Dowd

Free Agents Signed: Gerald Diduck

Waiver Claims: Jeff Bes, Jason Muzzatti

Waiver Losses: Ted Drury

Shanny for Pronger I am calling a wash. That is a big trade with two legends who both impacted their teams in an incredible way. I bet the thinking has to do with adding a veteran "stabalizing" guy like Glen Wesley to play big minutes while adding some scoring and toughness up front. Shanahan is a fine return for a player, even of Pronger's reputation. Calling this an even go. 

Darren Turcotte was a depth addition and Kevin Dineen would turn in to one of the franchise's most consistent offensive forwards. Adding these players helped the team. 

So, I've looked into Jocelyn Lemieux's career for another project, and it just seems like it was good, because of his last name. But he isn't that Lemieux. He isn't even THAT Lemieux. Jocelyn was a very bad player in Hartford for 3 years, and Rutherford dumping him in a trade that would end up resulting in offensive defense rental Jeff Brown was a great deal. 

Gerald Diduck was not a good free agent signing. He was a no-scoring forward that BARELY kept his penalty minutes in line during his time in Hartford. Total waste of money and time. Jeff Bes never played for the team, and while it looks like Jason Muzzatti could have had some very limited NHL value, he was never more than a glorified injury call-up in Hartford. But hey, teams need injury call-ups. 

Ted Drury only sounds like a good hockey player. But he actually wasn't, and having him claimed by the Ottawa Senators didn't affect the Whalers. 

Overall, I like a lot of what Jim did this year, and while likely handcuffed by a legendarily poor team, he was able to make moves that mattered. He got rid of some very bad players for some pretty good ones. Kind of concerned about how he threw JS Giguere away and seems to under value draft picks, though. 

Jim's Grade: 5/10

1996-1997: Start the Car(olina) - 32-39-11 (75 pts, 5th in Northeast)

Well, here we are at the end of an era. The last season of Hartford Whalers hockey. At the end of the year, they would pack up and move on down the line Carolina-way. It's somewhat surprising to me that the new ownership chose to hang on to Rutherford. Remember, he was still a young, relatively inexperienced GM, and on a middling, relocating team. Consider this one of Rutherford's 9 lives. In today's NHL, a GM won't travel with a failure of a team.

'96 Draft:

2. (34) Trevor Wasyluk, 3. (61) Andrei Petrunin, 4. (88) Craig MacDonald, 9. (233) Craig Adams.

This was abysmal. Really I am being generous including Craig Adams here. For today's kids, we call the 9th round, undrafted. He was the closest thing to an NHL player that Jim drafted this year. Not having a 1st round pick, of course means you can't fuck up the 1st round pick, but even in the second, Jim passed on Matt Cullen, Mathieu Garon..... oh and Zdeno Chara was selected in the next round. 

This is brutal. Really, really bad job Jim. You're not getting many points for this shit show. 

'96 Transactions:

Acquired: Paul Coffey, Keith Primeau, 1997 1st (Nikolas Tselios), Curtis Leschyshen, Kevin Haller, 1997 1st, 1997 7th

Traded: Brendan Shanahan, Brian Glynn, Andrei Nikolishin, Paul Coffey, 1997 3rd

Wow, what a brutal fucking year for Rutherford. I can't believe he traded Brendan Shanahan, inarguably your team's best player (and just at the BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER) for 20 fucking games of Paul Coffey. Holy shit, that actually happened. That might be one of the worst trades of all time. What's that? They also got Keith Primeau? Yeah, they got 3 seasons of 60 point Keith Primeau, that'll replace Brendan Shanahan and his incredible hall of fame career. 

Imagine the Hurricanes had Brendan Shanahan in his prime throughout the 90's and early 00's. Wow. Honestly, I've never given a 0/10 before, but this earned it. Fuck you old man Rutherford, this is one of the worst years for any GM ever, and I'm calling that now. 

Jim's Grade: 1/10

1997-1998: Brendan Shanahan was good at hockey - 33-41-8 (74 pts, 6th in Northeast)

Trading Brendan Shanahan turned out to  be a bad idea. Maybe one of the worst ideas in the history of the NHL. Well, maybe it moved Carolina's 1st round pick closer to the top of the draft, but that's not a good enough reason to deal Brendan Shanahan. Yeah, Brendan Shanahan had 87 points this year, Paul Coffey had 34. 

Paul Coffey was really good too. But like, 10 years earlier. Shanahan was just getting started. Carolina's leading scorer in 1997-98 was Sami Kapanen, he scored a (basically) career-high 63 points. He led the team with 63 points. LED THE TEAM WITH 63 POINTS. Fuck, that's bad man. That's bad. 

Carolina was dead last in the Northeast and had an average attendance in their temporary Greensboro home of 9,000. That's so bad man. Maybe if people could have come to see a future hall of famer in his prime like Brendan Shanahan, they would have had some people come watch. But hey, at least they got 63 points from Sami Kapanen. 

Fuck sakes. 

'97 Draft:

1. (22) Nikos Tselios, 2. (28) Brad Defauw, 3. (80) Francis Lessard, 4. (88) Shane Willis, a bunch of other guys. 

Another horrible draft from Rutherford. Honestly, the amount of good drafts I've seen doing Lamoriello, Chiarelli and now this old fuck is robbing me of my faith in humanity. 

Scott Hannan was available, but they traded that pick. Boston took Samsonov - who is better than whoever the fuck Nikos Tselios is - with a pick that was originally Carolina's. 

Man, if only they had Brendan Shanahan. 

By the way, the Red Wings, Shanny's new team, drafted the wrong Petr Sykora, so it's not all bad news. 

'97 Transactions:

Acquired: Trevor Kidd, Gary Roberts, Martin Gelinas, Kirk McLean, Ray Sheppard

Traded: Andrew Cassels, JS Giguere, Sean Burke, Geoff Sanderson, Kirk McLean

Here, the best player is Gary Roberts. They would keep him for three seasons. Kirk McLean played 612 NHL games, 8 for the Carolina Hurricanes. Like, what the fuck is the point of acquiring these players? You give up assets for them, and they barely get their feet wet in the market. If it's affordability, don't take them on in the first place! 

Ok, so admittedly, they did good getting Gary Roberts. No doubt, he is an attempt to fill the void left by Brendan Shanahan. But, giving up Giguere, and Sean Burke (whose best years were ahead of him) was idiotic on Rutherford's part. 

Letting Sanderson go in a trade for Martin Gelinas - a mediocre player by this point - and Kirk McLean, was unbelievably misguided. 

There is some thought behind some of these deals, but so much of it just looks like a GM throwing shit at a wall and seeing if any of it sticks. I'd take Gary Roberts on my team, but not over Brendan Shanahan. 

Brendan Shanahan was very good. 

Jim's Grade: 2/10

1998-1999: The Worst Division ever - 34-30-18 (86 pts, 1st in Southeast)

Wow, so Jimmy made the playoffs with the Carolina Hurricanes. That's pretty cool. 1st in the division, that's also cool. The team's leading scorer was Keith Primeau with 62 points, while old man Paul Coffey put up 10. The one redeeming light was the emergence of Arturs Irbe, who by sheer name alone, is fucking awesome. He actually was a stud too. He had a .923 and 2.22 season. Both great numbers, even by today's standards. Nice work.

Except, Carolina was the absolute worst team in the East to make the playoffs. They were 4 points worse than the 8th seed team, and relied on the complete garbage in their division to make it there. The Carolina Hurricanes were still a very bad team. 

For perspective, the 4th seeded Toronto Maple Leafs had 11 more points than the Canes. Hockey sure is fun. 

'98 Draft:

1. (11) Jeff Hereema, 3. (70) Kevin Holdridge, 3. (71) Erik Cole, 4. (91) Josef Vasicek, 4. (93) Tommy Westlund

Another wasted 1st round pick for Rutherford. Wow. He passed on Alex Tanguay, Robyn Regehr, Simon Gagne and even Scott Gomez. Imagine Scott Gomez being a better option than your first round pick. Hereema put up 6 career NHL points in 32 games. Gomez was good for over 1,000 NHL games and over 700 points.

Erik Cole was a great pick at #71, and would plug away for the Canes for most of his 892 game career. 

This wasn't an all-time bad draft for Rutherford, just terrible. Hereema was an alright scorer in junior with Sarnia. A 70 point player, and team leading scorer, but playing in a Mark Hunter system can make bad players look good, and good players look great. Bad.

'98 Transactions:

Acquired: Future considerations, Dave Karpa, 2000 4th, Paul Coffey, Andrei Kovalenko, Eric Fichaud

Traded: Manny Legace, Stu Grimson, Kevin Haller, Nelson Emerson, Adam Burt, 1994 4th (Evgeny Pavlov)

That's pretty fuckin' boring, I tell you. The big deals are letting go of Manny Legace who hadn't played yet with an NHL team. He would turn in to one of the league's better backups until 2007 or so. They also took on Paul Coffey again. He was good for 10 points. 

Getting rid of a bonehead like the Grim Reaper, Stu Grimson, is always a good idea, but not if you just replace him with another meathead like Dave Karpa. 

Andrei Kovalenko was very much at the end of his NHL days, but he put up decent enough numbers in his 94 games with Carolina. Adam Burt, the player they traded for Kovalenko, was less offensively inclined, and not much help in his own end either. 

All-in-all this wasn't Rutherford's worst year. But another failure at the draft, and a bunch of deals that really did nothing for the team doesn't earn you much for points. GM's shouldn't be taking years off, and they shouldn't be satisfied with an 86 point season - even if it is playoff "worthy".

Jim's Grade: 6/10

1999-2000: Another bad draft - 37-35-10-0 (84pts, 3rd in Southeast)

Another brutal year for the Hurricanes. This time no playoff berth. One kind of interesting note is that they were the least penalized team in the NHL this season, having only 253 penalty kills. That's a good sign of a mature, and good team. Most penalties are taken in the defensive zone, chasing better players. Or, big goons who are bad at hockey, punching each other's memories away. 

But, in this case, with such a bad outcome in the division and missing the playoffs, it looks more like disinterest. Keep in mind, they are in a division with the brutal Tampa Bay Lightning, and the 39 point Atlanta Thrashers. The only teams in the East better than then were Washington and Florida.

They rode Irbe in to the ground this year, playing him for 75 games. That's too much for a goalie like Irbe, and everyone knows that. But a lack of backup options because of some bad trades left him out to dry. 

This is where you start to think a GM and coach are on their way out. But, lo, they are both here for the entire season and watch the Canes finish on the outside looking in. 

'99 Draft:

1. (16) David Tanabe, 2. (46) Brett Lysak, 3. (84) Brad Fast, 4. (113) Ryan Murphy, 6. (174) Damian Surma.

You'd have to google it to know for sure, but David Tanabe had an alright NHL career. He was exactly the same NHL player he was as a USNDTP player. So, good for him. However, he was FAR from a first round pick. One decent year in Wisconsin and Rutherford was all over him.

They passed on Barret Jackman and Martin Havlat. 

Admittedly, this was a real mediocre draft, but another year comes and goes with the Hurricanes not getting anything for their future at the draft. Can any GM's draft outside of the top 10?

'99 Transactions:

Acquired: Rod Brind'amour, Sandis Ozolinsh, Jean-Marc Pelletier, Sandy McCarthy, 2000 2nd(x2)

Traded: Keith Primeau, 2005 5th, Keith Manderville, Paul Renham, Nolan Pratt, 2000 1st, 2000 2nd(x2)

Now, here are some interesting names. Sandis Ozolinsh and Rod Brind'amour, two names that we know had a big impact on the Hurricanes in the early and mid 00's. The only notable going the other way is Keith Primeau, and even throwing in the 2000 1st rd pick makes this a massive winning season in the trade market for Rutherford.

Brind'amour would go on to play almost 700 games for the Canes and contribute nearly 500 points, becoming possibly the franchise's first icon for millenial fans like me. This is a far cry from Primeau's career numbers with Carolina. Ozolinsh was by no means a young player coming to the Canes, and would only give them 118 games, but he was a good possession player and reliable in the games he played.

Jim won the trades he made this year, and made his team better. A little sacrifice in the way of draft picks, but for a guy that couldn't draft a letter, that may be the way to maximize a draft picks value.

Jim's Grade: 6/10

2000-2001: The Millennium is upon us, and so are the playoffs - 38-32-9-3 (88 pts, 2nd in Southeast)

So, the Southeast continues to be a terrible division, which for the team is a good thing, but it does nothing to help Jim Rutherford. He is still sticking with Paul Maurice, and has the obvious confidence of ownership, for some reason. 

Somehow, they managed to take the powerhouse Devils to 6 games in the first round. So not a bad result, but it's just more middle of the road, which is unfortunately, most of Carolina's history. They had lost the magic of Arturs Irbe and had a .901 team sav% by the season's end. Jeff O'Neill, Ron Francis and Sami Kapanen led the team in scoring, none near a point per game. 

Anyways, let's see how he did at the draft.

'00 Draft:

2. (32) Tomas Kurka, 3. (80) Ryan Bayda, 4. (98) Niclas Wallin

Here's the big problem. You're playing in a market with no money. That means you can't afford an expensive free agent. That means you can only add to your team through drafting and holding players' rights. Which means you have to be extra considerate at the draft. There is NO EXCUSE for a team - even before the salary cap, even before revenue sharing - to be bad because they're poor. They get a shot, just like everyone at the draft. Now, maybe they can't afford scouts, but really, they can afford scouts.

If you're a have-not, you can't be throwing away 1st round picks, unless you are getting better value than you are giving up. The Hurricane's 1st round pick from this draft was used on Vaclav Nedorost (Colorado Avalanche), no admittedly, he barely had an NHL career, but Brooks Orpik, Justin Williams, Niklas Kronwall, even Brad Boyes were ALL available past that pick. Those are all guys that make a team better, and they were all guys that Jim Rutherford didn't see value in. 

With their second round pick, they passed on Nick Schultz, Tomas Kopecky, Ilya Bryzgalov, Jarrett Stoll, Antoine Vermette and Paul Martin. No question, all of these players were more valuable than Tomas Kurka. 

It's so frustrating, Kurka didn't even project as a good player. Wow. 

'00 Transactions:

Acquired: Rob DiMaio, Darren Langdon, Scott Pellerin, Chris Dingman

Traded: Sandy McCarthy, 2001 4th rd pick, Askhat Rakhmatullin, 2001 5th rd pick

Nothing to see here. I'm a WHL fan, and I can appreciate the "dinger" as much as the next guy, but 1 point in 30 games isn't much to see. 

Moving on...

Jim's Grade: 2/10

2001-2002: Cup Finals with 20 wins - 35-26-16-5 (91 pts, 1st in Southeast)

Well, that's a hell of a result! The Canes dog their way to game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals against none other than the Detroit Red Wings, led by *ahem* Brendan Shanahan. This was easily one of if not the best team of the entire decade, so props to the Canes for even being there, but they were outmatched. 

This MUST have saved Jim Rutherford's career. It is important to remember that the score's are weighted most heavily towards what the GM does, not necessarily the result. So, he will get points for getting to the Cup final, but it won't make up for another bad draft, or a lousy trade deadline. 

Speaking of which:

'01 Draft:

1. (15) Igor Knyazev, 2. (46) Michael Zigomanis, 3. (91) Kevin Estrada, 4. (110) Rob Zepp

Another completely wasted 1st round pick. Jim had the luxury of picking in the top half of the league and managed to pick one of the few guys that would never have ANY impact whatsoever at the NHL level. 

For perspective, one pick later, Vancouver took R.J. Umberger. Sure, that name doesn't sound so good these days, but don't forget that in his prime he was good for 50 points per season. They could have had Carlo Colaiacovo, Colby Armstrong, Marcel Goc, Tim Gleason, Dave Steckel, Derek Roy, Tim Jackman, Fedor Tyutin, the list goes on. 

Instead, they took a player who had - according to hockeydb - 1 point between two teams in his draft year. That's brutal! This is what I wrote about last season, you have to make good on these picks when you have no cash to spend. Terrible. I won't bother writing about their other picks. 

'01 Transactions:

Acquired: Aaron Ward, Sean Hill, Kaspars Astashenko, Kevyn Adams, Bret Hedican, Tomas Malic, Ted Drury, Kevin Weekes

Traded: 2002 2nd (Jiri Hudler), Steve Halko, 2002 4th rd pick, Harlan Pratt, Sandis Ozolinsh, Byron Ritchie, Mike Rucinski, Chris Dingman, Shane Willis, Tom Barrasso

Alright, so a couple names stand out. Obviously, the first is Aaron Ward. A former 5th overall pick, Ward was a big stay at home guy. He spent a big part of his career in Carolina and was a bit of a possession problem. Most of his stats are in +/-, but we will use that and say he was probably less help than we remember. His point totals matched his play and aren't that important in his case. 

The next name that stands out is Jiri Hudler. Normally, dealing a 2nd round pick is pretty safe, and it's hard for me to fault Rutherford too much for this, but a decent scouting staff should be good enough to know a guy like that is available, and where he may end up.

The team also let Ozolinsh go, probably at the right time, as his career was mostly wrapping up and his point totals were falling. Important note: they added Kevin Weekes basically in his 3 best NHL years. Not bad.

You make the cup final and you probably don't have to do much. Why would you? It apparently worked. Come on though, draft better. 

Jim's Grade: 7/10

2002-2003: Pure Shit - 22-43-11-6 (61 pts, 5th in Southeast)

Wow, Stanley Cup hangover without the ring. Not only would Carolina finish dead last in their division, but they were dead last in the Eastern Conference and the NHL. Despite having Kevin Weekes play good goalie, their roster was aging and poor drafting had left the prospect pool pretty dry. 26 year old Jeff O'Neill was still being relied upon to lead the team in points, but with only 61, it was nowhere near what other teams had for firepower. 

The average of this team for players in 25 games or more was over 27. That's bad for a team that produced such a terrible result. Irbe and Francis were on the way out and they would need some reinforcements. It's time Jim Rutherford quit butt-fucking the Canes at the draft. 

'02 Draft:

1. (25) Cam Ward, other guys

I'm gonna leave it at one this time, because there really isn't much to say. The Canes needed a starting goalie, and Rutherford delivered. He wasn't ranked in the top 6 goalies, but he would give better career results than any of them. 

This is exactly the kind of draft the Hurricanes needed and I really can't emphasize that enough. Without adding Cam Ward, the Canes are high and dry don't win the Stanley Cup in 2005-2006. This. Set. Them. Up. Way to go Old Man Rutherford. 

'02 Transactions:

Acquired: Harold Druken, Jan Hlavec, Patrik Desrochers, Pavel Brendl, Bruno St. Jacques, 2004 2nd rd pick, Radim Vrbata, Allan Rourke, Danny Markov, Marty Murray

Traded: Darren Langdon, Marek Malik, Jean-Marc Pelletier, Ryan Bast, Sami Kapanen, Glen Wesley, Bates Battaglia, Jeff Daw, Harold Druken, Igor Knyazev, David Tanabe

Pavel Brendl sounds like such a good player. No. It was pretty much all bad here at the trade table. Rutherford was able to unload some old guys like Glen Wesley, but nothing of much value was added. One interesting thing here to note is that two former first overall picks: Igor Knyazev and David Tanabe were packaged for 14 points from Danny Markov and a 4th round pick two years in the future. 

Just when you think things are getting better, you make a trade for Pavel Brendl....

Jim's Grade: 5/10

2003-2004: Paul is a dead man, miss him, miss him - 28-34-14-6 (76 pts, 3rd in Southeast)

Paul Maurice goes the way of the dodo bird and in comes Peter Laviolette. A change of coach was obviously needed, as the Canes missed the playoffs this year and managed to be dead last in the league in goals for, powerplay goals and powerplay %. 

Last year at the draft, Jim Rutherford added franchise goalie Cam Ward. He was a sign of great things to come with a .926 sav% in 56 WHL games. But, he can't score goals, and with Ron Francis basically holding on for dear life, the Hurricanes needed a franchise forward. 

'03 Draft:

1. (2) Eric Staal

Shall I stop there?......No, that was only fun once. 

2. (31) Danny Richmond, 4. (102) Aaron Dawson, 4. (126) Kevin Nastiuk, 4. (130) Matej Trojovsky, 5. (137) Tyson Strachan

Jimmy did it again. The franchise was absolutely floundering, had no scoring, and he went out and got the best available player in the draft. #1 overall was Marc-Andre Fleury, making Staal a sure thing for the Canes. Now, I like to be chill about these picks because a fucking hairless ape that's addicted to sniffing glue could have drafted Eric Staal at #2. 

Ryan Suter, Jeff Carter and Ryan Getzlaf were all available, but there is nothing I'm going to say about those guys. Rutherford picked a fine player at an easy spot. 

I won't over-dissect his 2nd round pick of Danny Richmond, but other players available did include Patrice Bergeron and Shea Weber. It's hard to fault Jimmy though, because everyone passed on these players once. Overall, it was a successful draft for Rutherford and the Canes. 

'03 Transactions:

Acquired: 2004 1st (Andrew Ladd), Martin Gerber, Justin Williams, 2005 4th (Jared Boll), Bob Boughner, 2004 4th, Chris Bahen, 2004 3rd (#69, lol), 2005 5th

Traded: Ron Francis, 2004 1st (Alex Picard), 2004 2nd (Kyle Wharton), Arturs Irbe, Jani Hume

Big year with some big deals. Ron Francis finally left the Hurricanes - though he'd be back - at age 39, traded to the Maple Leafs. The Canes would also deal old goalie Arturs Irbe.

The big trade though, would be swapping the 8th pick and their 2nd rd pick for the 4th pick in the upcoming draft. The player they would get was Andrew Ladd. Ladd's time in Carolina was short and his point totals weren't amazing, but had they kept him, they would have had a really good player for a lot of years. 

They also added Martin Gerber, though he wouldn't join the team until 2005-2006, and Justin Williams. Williams was a stud in Carolina, topping out at 76 points. Adding him definitely made the team better. 

This year, the Carolina Hurricanes put together what would be the core for their Stanley Cup winning team, including the coach, goalie and top forward line. 

Jim's Grade: 7/10

2004-2005: The NHL is Stupid 

The 2004-2005 NHL regular season and playoffs were cancelled due to a lockout. 

They still had the draft though!!!!

'04 Draft:

1. (4) Andrew Ladd, 2. (38) Justin Peters, 3. (69) Casey Borer, 4. (109) Brett Carson, 5. (137) Magnus Akerlund, 7. (202) Ryan Pottruff, 8. (235) Jonas Fiedler, 9. (269) Martin Vagner

What else is there to write about? Let's over-analyze the draft.

Andrew Ladd was a good pick at #4, a surefire NHL player, and basically ready to go. Scouts had him as the #2 North American skater, and in a draft with Ovechkin AND Malkin, North American skaters can suck it. But who else could Carolina have had!?

Blake Wheeler was available, but taken by the Phoenix Coyotes. He wouldn't start having his best years until Ladd was on the hard downhill. He undoubtedly has scored at a better rate over his career, and it can't be argued that he's played on better teams. If I were re-drafting, I would take Wheeler over Ladd, based on their careers and not just current play level. 

Travis Zajac was also available. Both are great team leaders, and pretty equal career trajectories. I think Zajac's highs were higher and that gives him the nod in my book. 

Rob Schremp. Lol, no Rob Schremp sucks. 

Justin Peters was the team's second round pick. He has been a marginal NHL player at his best, and an ECHL backup at his worst and most frequent. I would say this is mostly a wasted pick. Backup goalies are always available, and taking one in the 2nd round, where you could get a better player like Bryan Bickell, Carl Soderberg, David Booth, Brandon Dubinsky or David Krejci is a a bad choice. 

Last to be over-analyzed is pick #69. #69 is a nice spot to pick in the draft, you are looking for depth and motivation. This is where they selected Casey Borer. 3 points in 16 games isn't very good, especially considering Brandon Prust, Andrej Sekera and All-Star Alex Edler were all available. 

All said, not a great job at the draft, but it was all Jimmy had to do, and he fucked it up!

Jim's Grade: 4/10

2005-2006: Utter domination - 52-22-8 (112 pts, Stanley Cup Champions)

The league was a weird new place. A hard salary-cap, new rules (trapezoid, two-line pass). And, perhaps weirdest of all, the Stanley Cup was awarded to the Carolina Hurricanes. 

Cam Ward was an absolutely clutch member during the play-offs, he posted an out of this world .920 SV% and took over for Martin Gerber to win the Conn Smythe Trophy. That's one of Rutherford's draft picks paying off. 

The team was led in scoring by Eric Staal (both reg season and playoffs).

'05 Draft:

1. (3) Jack Johnson, 2. (58) Nate Hagemo, 3. (64) Joe Barnes, 4. (94) Jakub Vojta, 4. (123) Ondrej Otcenas

Here's a weird one. Almost every team fucked up in the best draft class in the last 20 years. This is the year Crosby was taken at #1. Johnson is a good player, but taking him #3 meant passing on Anze Kopitar, Carey Price, TJ Oshie, Andre Cogliano, James Neal and Kris Letang. 

A fine pick, but because Johnson would never play for the Hurricanes, we will have to wait to see what his value ended up being. 

Rutherford got nothing after the 1st round again. Normally, not that big of a deal, outside of the 2nd round is rough living, but this was a stacked draft and teams did well.

'05 Transactions:

Acquired: Doug Weight, Mark Recchi, Craig Adams, 2006 4th (James Reimer), Mike Commodore, Andrew Hutchinson, 2006 4th (Reto Berra), Derrick Walser, Anton Babchuk

Traded: Jeff O'Neill, Pavel Brendl, Radim Vrbata, 2006 4th (James Reimer), Bruno St. Jacques, Danny Richmond, Jesse Boulerice, Mike Zigomanis, 2006 1st, Krystofer Kolanos

Free Agents Signed: Corey Stillman, Ray Whitney

Adding Corey Stillman and Ray Whitney via free agency was great for the Canes, both were among the teams top scorers, and it clearly paid off. 

Some interesting trade moves, but after the salary cap was introduced, teams needed to rework their rosters. Doug Weight gave the team 13 points in 23 games, and as a pure rental player, he was a great addition to a Cup winning team. Recchi, though at the very tail end of his allegedly hall-of-fame career, was also an impact player for the Canes. 

It seems like Rutherford made a real attempt to refresh the team. He let a lot of the old guys go, including O`Neill, St. Jacques, and Brendl, and took on some old guys as rentals for a playoff run. This was a tough situation to be in, and Rutherford showed his stuff. 

Brendan Shanahan had 81 pts in 82 games as a 37 year old with the Red Wings. 

Jim's Grade: 10/10

2006-2007: Back to Earth - 40-34-8 (88 pts, 3rd in Southeast)

Since 1995-96, The Hurricanes are the first team to not qualify for the playoffs after winning the Stanley Cup.

'06 Draft:

2. (43) Jamie McBain, 3. (93) Harrison Reed, some other guys.

With the exception of Brad Marchand, I think Rutherford got the best available player. McBain gave the Canes decent offensive production for a player of his type over 5 pro seasons in the NHL and AHL with the team. 

'06 Transactions:

Acquired: Scott Walker, Tim Gleason, Eric Belanger, Jakub Petruzalek, Mark Flood, Dennis Seidenberg, Anson Carter, Josef Vasicek

Traded: Josef Vasicek, Jack Johnson, Oleg Tverdovsky, Brad Isbister, Kevyn Adams, Eric Belanger

Free Agents Lost: Matt Cullen, Martin Gerber, Doug Weight, Aaron Ward, Mark Recchi

The team tried to get younger and less expensive. Obviously anticipating some big RFA contracts to be signed. Jack Johnson being traded is really the only deal that stands out. Getting Tim Gleason and Eric Belanger back wasn't enough for a young player taken at #3. Gleason was coming off a great statistical season and had good numbers in junior, so I think this is likely a case of either misjudging a guy, or wanting to get TOUGH!

Jim's Grade: 5/10

2007-2008: Missed it by THAT MUCH! - 43-33-6 (92 pts, 2nd in Southeast)

Fun fact about this year's Hurricanes: They had the MOST power play opportunities in the league at......420!!!!!!! Yeah!

The team had a great October, but then absolutely bottomed out until having a near perfect March. Looking back, had they had some more success and consistency in the middle chunks of the season, they could have made the 2 points the missed the playoffs by. 

Anyways, Jim Rutherford is now 58 years old, which doesn't seem quite right. I mean, if he is a million now, how was he only 58 then?

Whatever, 

'07 Draft: 

1. (11) Brandon Sutter, 3. (72) Drayson Bowman, 4. (102) Justin McRae, some other guys

Another star-studded entry draft. Another year that Jim makes a confusing pick. It's not even that Brandon Sutter is bad, because he isn't, but when you pass over Ryan McDonagh, Kevin Shattenkirk and Max Pacioretty, you better do it for a great player. Of course, he didn't. 

Bowman put up great numbers in the WHL, but would never evolve in to an NHL player.

'07 Transactions:

Acquired: Michael Leighton, Matt Cullen, Joe Jensen, Joe Corvo, Patrick Eaves, Tumo Ruutu

Traded: Andrew Hutchinson, Craig Adams, David Gove, JD Forrest, Mike Commodore, Corey Stillman, Andrew Ladd

Taking a player back in a trade after having him as a part of the team and letting him go for nothing, is a confounding thing GM's seem to do a lot. Matt Cullen is one of those guys this year. He was a productive member of the team in 2005-06, and then went to New York. Now, the Canes trade assets to get him back. Bizarre. 

They also added Patrick Eaves, but his 14 points were really disappointing. Kind of the story of his career. This is a guy who has never played a full NHL season, and had pretty small offensive contributions as well. I have no idea why he is still in the league. 

2008-09 would be the year that Andrew Ladd would take off as a player. Admittedly, a lot of that is down to the quality of his teammates, but getting rid of a player with his projections doesn't make a lot of sense, especially for a team looking for as much inexpensive forward help as they can get. 

Jim's Grade: 3/10

2008-2009: Paul More-ice - 45-30-7 (97 pts, 2nd in Southeast)

Peter Laviolette celebrated his 240th NHL win, making him the winningest NHL coach in history. He was promptly fired and replaced by Paul Maurice. This year, Rutherford also extended Eric Staal to a 7 year deal, solidifying him as the team's future. 

This was another season that the Canes relied on a good October and a great March, but the rest of the season was largely a failure. They managed to make the playoffs and were swept by the Penguins in the Conference Finals. A team clearly riding a hot streak to playoff success. 

'08 Draft:

1. (14) Zach Boychuk, 2. (45) Zac Dalpe, 4. (105) Michal Jordan, 6. (165) Mike Murphy

At first glance this is a horrible draft. At first glance, this is an ok draft. What is it really though? Well, Zach Boychuk gave the NHL 127 games (mostly for the Canes) and is now out of the league. He also follows everyone on instagram. Here's where Rutherford must have an infinite amount of nightmares. Taken, by the Ottawa Senators with the 15th pick, Erik Karlsson. 

OH MY GOD JIM HOW DO YOU SLEEP? 

Forget Karlsson, everyone in the top 15 that didn't take him fucked up. Jake Gardiner and Jordan Eberle were also both available in the first round. 

They did also find value in the later rounds. Though limited, Dalpe has contributed at the NHL level. He is no Derek Stepan or Travis Hamonic, but anything after the 1st round is a roll of the dice. Jordan - not to be confused with NBA legend and baseball....player Michael Jordan - saw some NHL action before leaving the league for Europe. Dale Weise, TJ Brodie and Gustav Nyquist were all available. But again, who cares?

'08 Transactions:

Acquired: Joni Pitkanen, Jussi Jokinen, Erik Cole, Patrick O'Sullivan

Traded: Justin Williams, 2009 2nd, Wade Brookbank, Erik Cole

Couple of real players going both ways. Erik Cole left the team only to come back before the playoff run, so we will call him mostly a wash. 

Jokinen would end up being a real contributor for the Hurricanes. Playing with them for 3 and a half seasons. However, I think he is a fine enough substitute for Justin Williams. I gotta call this trade season at an even.

Rutherford fired a good coach, and still managed to get the team to the Conference Finals, drafted poorly but got some limited depth in the later rounds, and dealt pretty even over the course of the season. 

Jim's Grade: 5/10

2009-2010: Trending downwards - 35-37-10 (80 pts, 3rd in Southeast)

The Hurricanes failed to make the playoffs during the 2009-2010 National Hockey League season.

Alright, so Rutherford brought former player Ron Francis in as an assistant coach, along with former goalie Tom Barrasso. I don't know why...but maybe watch out for that Francis guy Jim, he seems like a go getter. 

'09 Drafts:

1. (27) Phillipe Paradis, 2. (51) Brian Dumoulin, 3. (88) Mattias Lindstrom, 5. (131) Matt Kennedy, 6. (178) Rasmus Rissanen

Brian Dumoulin is one of Rutherford's guys. I don't know why. He never played a second in Carolina or any of their affiliates, and was traded to Pittsburgh, Rutherford's eventual landing place.

In the first round, they busted again. Paradis has never come close to an NHL career, and has bounced around as a throw-in in trades. Ryan O'Reilly, Carl Klingberg and Jakob Silfverberg were passed over by every team.

'09 Transactions:

Acquired: Aaron Ward, Jiri Tlusty, Alexandre Picard, 2010 2nd (Martin Marincin), Justin Pogge, Jared Staal, Riley Nash

Traded: Patrick Eaves, Phillipe Paradise (rights), Matt Cullen, Aaron Ward

Immediately trading your 1st round pick is generally regarded as bad asset management, but they managed to fleece the Leafs for Jiri Tlusty. Now, he did not have an amazing career, and I would argue that his inability to stay in the league as a 1st round pick at #13 should have raised some red flags, but because of Paradis' career I'll be lenient. 

Managing to get rid of Patrick Eaves is great, but bringing back Aaron Ward - even for just part of a season - and trading Matt Cullen made the team worse. Riley Nash has been a decent depth scorer for the canes, probably good value for a 2nd round pick. 

Jim's Grade: 3/10

2010-2011: The Cam Ward and Eric Staal Show, starring Jeff Skinner - 40-31-11 (91 pts, 3rd in Southeast)

Normally, 91 points is enough to make the playoffs, or at the least, it's enough to be close, but, the team missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season. Eric Staal would lead the team in goals, assists and - of course - points while Cam Ward posted an elite .923 SAV%. 

But there was another....

'10 Draft:

1. (7) Jeff Skinner, 2. (37) Justin Faulk, 2. (53) Mark Alt, 3. (67) Danny Biega, some other guys, 7. (187) Frederik Andersen.

Hard to complain here, Jeff Skinner has been a good scoring winger for basically his entire career in Carolina. He has been a loyal player on mediocre teams, putting up 3 - 30+ goal seasons. It is hard to argue however, that Carolina wouldn't rather have Vladimir Tarasenko or Evgeny Kuznetsov. 

Justin Faulk. Now, this is an interesting one. Ok, so I'll admit that I don't like Faulk. I believe that he contributes to a lot of goals against for the team. I have watched every single goal scored against Cam Ward for the past 2 seasons, and he just shows up all the time. Pucks deflecting in off of his stick, skates, ass, head, everything. He likes to challenge shooters with his stick, and that technique leads to difficult shots for goalies to see. 

However, trying to compensate for my bias (and only because his possession metrics beg me too), I will call him a steal in the 2nd round. 

'10 Transactions: 

We've gotten to a period where GM's stopped trading players. So, let' be excited and happy for my poor fingers. They have written 7,794 words thus far, for nothing more than the sheer joy I will be overcome with when you read this. 

Acquired: Brett Sutter, Ian White, Ryan Carter, Corey Stillman, Derek Joslin, Bryan Allen

Traded: Anton Babchuk, Tom Kostopoulos, Ian White, Stephane Chaput, Matt Kennedy, Ryan Carter, Sergei Samsonov

Ok, so Samsonov was a real good player coming to the end of his career. 2010-11 would end up being his last season in the NHL. Admittedly, his production had dropped off a bit, but it's surprising seeing that he didn't play beyond 2010-11. 

Most of these deals are minor-league depth moves. So, there isn't much to see here. 

Jim's Grade: 6/10

2011-2012: Firing Paul again! - 33-33-16 (82 pts, 5th in Southeast)

The last thing a GM can do to save his ass, is fire a coach. This season, the Carolina Hurricanes missed the playoffs for the 3rd straight season, and Jim Rutherford fired Paul Maurice (again). This time he would hire Kirk Muller.

Eric Staal was the only player with more than 50 points. That's bad. 

'11 Draft: 

1. (12) Ryan Murphy, 2. (42) Victor Rask, 3. (73) Keegan Lowe, 4. (102) Gregory Hofmann

Ryan Murphy has basically been a borderline NHL player his whole career, unable to break through on a brutal Hurricanes team. It wasn't a very deep draft, but the Canes could've had Rickard Rakell, an undoubtedly better player. Oscar Klefbom was also available. 

Victor Rask is where it gets interesting. Like I've said, anything after the 1st round is gravy, and Rask has turned in to a pretty good NHL player. Good for 40 points or so per season. Brandon Saad and Nikita Kucherov were both taken in the 2nd round of this draft.

'11 Transactions:

Acquired: Jaroslav Spacek, Jordan Staal

Traded: Joe Corvo, Tomas Kaberle, Brandon Sutter, 2012 1st (Derrick Pouliot), Brian Dumoulin

Rutherford came up big this year with the acquisitions. He brought Jordan Staal in to try and keep brother Eric from leaving via free agency. It wasn't enough, but he didn't give up anything of near equal value to get him. Jordan Staal is still with the team and a consistent 45-50 point player. 

Spacek was never really going to be worth much, but again, not much was given up in order to bring him in. 

Jim's Grade: 3/10

2012-2013: Lockout YAY! - 19-25-4 (42 pts, 3rd in Southeast)

Gary Bettman led the league to another lockout. Which is just fucking great if you are a struggling team in a miniscule market. Another absolutely brutal season and Jim Rutherford's days are numbered. The usual move of firing an innocent coach is no longer on the table and the only thing left to do for the greasy dirty owner is to fire Jim Rutherford, an old man. 

'12 Draft: 

2. (38) Phillip Di Giuseppe, 2. (42) Brock McGinn, 3. (69) Daniel Altshuller, some other guys, 4. (120) Jaccob Slavin

When you're this bad, you have to have a 1st round pick. Admittedly, they traded that pick for a good player, but a player like Filip Forsberg is worth way more than Jordan Staal. Bad move for a bad team. 

In the 2nd, the team took Phillip Di Giuseppe over Damon Serverson.

In the 4th round, Rutherford got lucky with what looks like a top pairing d-man, Jaccob Slavin. 

We are getting in to territory where judging draft picks gets a little tougher, not because of development, but because of how idiot GM's think players develop. 

'12 Transactions:

Acquired: Kevin Westgarth, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Jamie McBain, some other shit

Traded: Jussi Jokinen, Andrej Sekera, Mark Alt, Brian Boucher, some other shit

Holy fuck I'm getting tired of writing about a GM I couldn't give less of a fuck about. 

This is a desperate GM. Every player he took on was either border-line NHL quality, nearing retirement, or just bad. AND he gave up good players to get them. Wow. 

Jim's Grade: 3/10

2013-2014: You're Fired - 36-35-11 (83 pts, 7th in Metropolitan)

The Carolina Hurricanes failed to miss the playoffs for the 5th consecutive season and Jim Rutherford gets shit-canned. Bye bye Jim. Let's look at how the season went for him..

'13 Draft:

1. (5) Elias Lindholm, 3. (66) Brett Pesce, 5. (126) Brent Pedersen, 6. (156) Tyler Ganly

Rutherford, with limited picks, did GREAT this year. Honestly, it's one of his best drafts ever. Elias Lindholm is going to be a good player in the NHL, maybe not a Bo Horvat, but good enougha t this point to not be worth regret. 

But Brett Pesce. Holy shit. Nobody knows who this guy is and he is maybe the best young defenseman on the Hurricanes. Among names like Noah Hanifin, Jaccob Slavin and Justin Faulk, that's saying something. He likely won't ever put up big numbers, but I think he projects as a #2. That's something!

'13 Transactions

Acquired: Kellan Tochkin, Greg Nemisz, John-Michael Liles, Dennis Robertson, Andrei Loktionov, 2014 4th rd pick

Traded: Zac Dalpe, Jeremy Welsh, Kevin Westgarth, Tim Gleason, Tuomo Ruutu

Rutherford got rid of a declining Tuomo Ruutu, a slow Tim Gleason and Kevin Westgarth - who is just bad. 

I see that draft, and I just don't understand why he moved the players he did. Again, minor moves when the team needed some major change. 

Well, guess what Jim, the team got major change. Bye bye. He was replaced by Ron Francis.

Jim's Grade: 5/10

2014-2015: Hello Pittsburgh, Goodbye Bylsma - 43-27-12 (98 pts, 4th in the Metropolitan)

Ownership fired Ray Shero, the GM that built the franchise, after being a divisonal champion with over 50 wins. Smart. 

Rutherford shows up, fires Dan Bylsma and hires Mike Johnston. That didn't work out, and Johnston would last a season and a half before getting shit-canned himself. Of course, they still have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin so, whatever, still good. 

'14 Draft: 

1. (22) Kasperi Kapanen, 4. (113) Sam Lafferty, 5. (145) Anthony Angello, 6. (173) Jaden Lindo

As a Leafs fan, I can tell you that Kapanen is better than an AHL player, and probably projects as a 3rd line scoring winger. However, to skip over David Pastrnak, Josh Ho-Sang or even Alex Tuch (maybe a stretch) was a failure to a team that relies almost solely on drafting to fill-in their star heavy roster. 

'14 Transactions:

Acquired: Patric Hornqvist, Nick Spaling, Rob Klinkhammer, David Perron, Maxim Lapierre, Daniel Winnik, Ian Cole

Traded: James Neal, Philip Samuelsson, Rob Klinkhammer, 2015 1st rd pick, Marcel Goc, Zach Sill, Robert Bortuzzo

Lots of moves here, and that's expected. A new GM comes in and wants his own team. So, what did he get? 

Well, adding David Perron lasted about one full season and contributed basically 30 points to a high-scoring team. Hornqvist has been a real good player for the Pens and helped replace the offense lost with James Neal. Dan Winnik is about the only other notable, and he only played 20 games or so and didn't contribute much.  

It's hard to say, but I think Horny, Perron and Winnik make up for the loss of Neal. the fact that he was robbed from Nashville by the expansion Vegas team only makes this trade look better for Pittsburgh. 

Losing some points for the awful coaching change and somewhat poor draft. 

Jim's Grade: 6/10

2015-2016: THRILLING RESULTS! - 48-26-8 (104 pts, Stanley Cup Champions)

Well, he did it! Well, the Penguins did it. Hornqvist was the only really valuable player to the Pens in the playoffs that Rutherford added. Otherwise, it was Crosby, Kessel, Malkin, you know....the usual suspects. 

One move that mattered, was the firing of Mike Johnston and addition of Mike Sullivan. He has proven to be a stud coach. So, let's get him credit for that change. So, how'd he do at the draft!?

'15 Draft: 

2. (46) Daniel Sprong, 5. (137) Dominik Simon, 6. (167) Frederik Tiffels

Win the Cup, don't draft in the first round, OK!

Win the Cup, draft Daniel Sprong in the second round, OK! There is no player they would rather have currently, from that draft year. Well done at the draft. 

'15 Transactions:

Acquired: Phil Kessel, Tim Erixon, Tyler Biggs, 2016 2nd, Nick Bonino, Trevor Daley, Carl Hagelin, Justin Schultz, 2016 3rd

Traded: Kasperi Kapanen, Scott Harrington, Nick Spaling, 2016 3rd rd pick (x2), Brandon Sutter, Rob Scuderi, David Perron, Beau Bennett

Wow. This is an insane grouping of trades. He added Kessel, Bonino, Daley, Hagelin and Schultz - all contributing factors for the Stanley Cup Championship) for...David Perron and like maybe one day Kasperi Kapanen? Wow. He ripped off the entire league with that Kessel deal, and he gave the Leafs jack in return. Take that.....Brendan Shanahan!

AHAHAA yes, PAYBACK! After YEARS of mediocrity because of trading Shanahan, Rutherford finally takes his lunch money as President of the Toronto Maple Leafs! Eat it. 

Jim's Grade: 10/10

2016-2017: Rinse and Repeat - 50-21-11 (111 pts, Stanley Cup Champions)

Well, they did it again. Turns out Phil Kessel is a great hockey player. He is now a two-time Stanley Cup Champion. Of course Crosby helped, so did Malkin, not so much Letang, but the litany of stars Rutherford added in 2015-16 made all the difference for the repeating Stanley Cup Champions. 

'16 Draft: 

2. (55) Filip Gustavsson, 2. (61) Kasper Bjorkqvist, 3. (77) Connor Hall, 4. (121) Ryan Jones, some other guys. 

Alright, early to tell, but nowhere near the talent that Jimmy took in the 2015 draft. With Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry, another young goalie probably doesn't do Pittsburgh any favors. Again, it's too early to really tell, but Carl Grundstrom or Cliff Pu might have been better choices. 

'16 Transactions:

Acquired: Ron Hainsey, Frank Corrado, Mark Streit, Ryan Reaves, 2017 2nd rd pick

Traded: Mike Condon, Danny Kristo, 2017 2nd rd pick, Eric Fehr, Steven Oleksy, 2017 4th rd pick, Oskar Sundqvist, 2017 1st rd pick

Some alright moves, but one stands out, and it's not good. Trading Ryan Reaves for a 1st rd pick is always a bad trade. Always. But, adding Hainsey and Corrado made them a better team in the short and long term. 

Jim's Grade: 8/10