Say what you will about Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford, there's one thing for certain that you just cannot deny. Rutherford makes moves. Lots of moves.
With training camp on the immediate horizon, Rutherford made one thing very clear when he met with The Athletic's Josh Yohe on Wednesday. The Penguins are still a dangerous team, and one that is in a good position to make a deep playoff run and compete for another Stanley Cup in 2020-21.
The Pens' GM got the ball rolling this offseason when he dealt prospect Filip Hallander, David Warsofsky, Evan Rodrigues and the 15th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft (Rodion Amirov) to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for speedy winger Kasperi Kapanen, along with depth players Pontus Aberg and Jesper Lindgren.
Kapanen, a Penguins draft pick (22nd overall in 2014) will find himself in an top six role in Pittsburgh after being relegated to the middle six in Toronto, due to the Leafs' depth at RW - and should have plenty of opportunities to succeed alongside Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.
Rutherford then went out and swapped winger Patric Hornqvist for Panthers defenseman Micheal Matheson, and signed depth defenseman Cody Ceci to a one year deal to replace the departed Jack Johnson.
Needless to say, each of these moves has come with a great deal of criticism among the hockey community, with many wondering if the veteran executive has moved the needle in the wrong direction this offseason.
"It's a pretty standard thing for people to say," Rutherford told Yohe. "To be honest, that's what I would expect people to say. Those people don't follow us very closely, though. They aren't close to our team. So they don't know as much about our team. We are still Stanley Cup contenders."
"Here's the thing," he said. "I think some of the comments when a team like us has a lot of success, these are just negative and jealous things that are said. I see it in all sports. For whatever reason, some people can't wait - assuming you're not a fan of a certain team - to take joy when that team takes a step backwards. That's how I view those comments. Some people just don't like the Penguins and are waiting to see us fail."
While you can't exactly argue with the success of the Penguins organization in the last decade-and-change, it's tough to look at the moves Rutherford has made in the last few months without a bit of a raised eyebrow.
Nevertheless, the games don't play themselves, and I suppose we'll see in short order just how Rutherford's latest additions fit into the picture in Pittsburgh. It wouldn't be the first time that people were wrong to judge before the games are played.
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