• Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Penguins Trades: Renting Iginla Akin to Buying the Cup

avatar

ByJoey Wales

Mar 26, 2013

I hate the Yankees. They and their talent acquisition model represent everything wrong with America today. I hate the concept of buying talent with no regard for team chemistry in order to try to get whatever trophy awaits you and your overpayed superteam.

If the Penguins rent Jarome Iginla and end up going the distance, it will turn that sweet sip from Lord Stanley’s cup more than a little vinegary. Pittsburgh has an incredible team right now. The Pens offensive firepower is almost unmatched, and Brenden Morrow has added an important missing piece to complement the lines Bylsma already put out there. The defense has been arguably suspect at times, but Doug Murray has shored that up. Iginla isn’t needed, and would just be throwing money at talent because talent is available.

Jarome IginlaThere are upsides and downsides to acquiring Iginla. Upside – he is crazy good. Downside – his presence will seriously shake up a system that is already firing on all cylinders. Upside – the Pens become the most threatening team in the NHL. Downside – the Pens become the most threatening team in the NHL for a few months and lose who knows what in potential long-term talent.

There is plenty more back and forth, but the bottom line for me is that the Penguins do not need Iginla to make a deep run in the playoffs or win the Cup this year. Maybe it’s the traditionalist in me, but the Pens need to win it with the core team that got us here. Don’t buy the Stanley Cup, Ray. Don’t be the Yankees.

32 thoughts on “Penguins Trades: Renting Iginla Akin to Buying the Cup”
  1. This whole article, post and comments in reply to it are beyond comical. Comparing an NHL team and salary cap to an MLB team with no salary cap and ESPECIALLY the Yankees …. an absolute joke! I really hope you don’t get paid for the things you write

  2. Well boys and girls, we all know there is some huge upside to this, but I’m still not thrilled about it. Once the din of the etching machines that a lot of Pens fans are currently firing up dies down, I’m interested to see what Bylsma is going to do with his new supersquad. It’s up to him to manage expectations and keep our boys’ skates firmly planted on the ice, evaluate line possibilities and special team roles, and figure out how to make this all work. Not a lot of time to tune up this new machine, and the intangibles of adding Iginla worry me.

    I do love how butthurt Bruins fans must be, though. I used to live up in MA and had to put up with Boston sports daily, so that part of this trade absolutely makes me smile!

  3. I think we picked up iginla just so boston or whomever could not get him. I don’t like giving up a 1st round pick, but we had two because of the staal trade. And as far as “buying” the cup, that is exactly why there IS a late season trade deadline. See you at the parade.

    1. Nope. Well, In Ray We Trust, right? Not thrilled, but going to enjoy watching how this plays out.

  4. i think the argument should be” should hockey allow a late trade deadline, and should they be obligated to sign a least for the yr after the trade? good question.. im all for that possibly , but using cap space to better your team is simply wise.

    1. And therein lies one of my main points, Anon: I firmly don’t believe that Iginla would better our team. Quite the opposite, I think he would be a detriment to the continued success of this year’s squad.

      I do like where your head is at in terms of requiring a minimum one-year contract post trade year. I still wouldn’t support picking up Iginla if that were the case, but it would go a long way to make time rentals more palatable.

  5. Doesn’t every team “buy” the Stanley Cup? Are there teams that don’t pay their players? Are there teams that have a lower salary cap than the rest of the league? If the Penguins are getting some sort of special exemption then your argument holds water…if not your argument is silly. It seems you just want to be able to say the Penguins won the cup this year with a lesser squad.

    What will you say if they don’t win it having passed on Iggy?

    1. fully agree elyod.. you do what you can within the cap to put the best out there.. all teams had the same cap- so its what u do with it.

    2. Elyod, really? “Are there teams that don’t pay their players?” I hope you are being facetious with that. You know exactly what I mean, but to reiterate – getting Iginla would be a stupid, unnecessary expense in an attempt to build some superteam that has a higher probability of flaming out (get it?) than skating home with Stanley.

      Regardless, I’m guessing you are one of the Pens fans who wants Shero to blow our cap and some talent on Iginla based on the fact you think the Pens are a “lesser team” without him. I think there a number of stat lines that would dispute that the pens are any kind of “lesser team,” but to each their own.

      If the Pens pass on Iginla and don’t win the Cup I will be saying a lot of things. One of them will not ever be, “Damn, we should have gotten Iginla.” Will you place all the blame on that one missing component?

  6. So then to your point, you are opposed to all acquisitions throughout the league because they all fit into your definition of ‘getting talent because it’s available’, right?

  7. Nothing like the Yankees. They are way under the cap line and can do it. They spend there money wisely. Most of there players are developed in there system.

    1. Totally valid points, Mark. I considered the cap/no cap fact for a while before making the comparison, but I decided to stick with it because, to me, the analogy illustrates the concept at the core of my post: this would be getting talent because it’s available and the Pens can do it. So, just because we can, does that mean we should? My answer, obviously, is no because this would be buying talent with Shero’s deftly managed money for the sake of doing it — consequences to team needs be damned.

  8. Although, I do agree that we do not need him. And it may in fact ruin the chemistry of the team, as it is now.

  9. Comparing an NHL team to a MLB team is senseless. There’s no cap in baseball. How is this a fair comparison? If we can get a star studded cast under a cap, when most teams cannot, does that really make us the Yankees? It makes Ray Shero look even more like a genius compared to other GMs.

  10. So then to your point, you are opposed to all acquisitions throughout the league because they all fit into your definition of ‘getting talent because it’s available’, right?

    1. No way. If it fits the needs of the team, then go for it. I think Morrow and Murray are great pick ups. The filled specific needs with minimal impact. I have issue with the concept of hoarding talent just because you can without considering short-term impacts to the current team, and long-term impacts to the development of the program.

      1. You can’t compare the Pens to the Yankees and say we are trying to win now and somehow make it seem that acquiring talent is unfair to the rest of the league, while at the same time think that we are sacrificing our future by trading away good young prospects. That argument seems contradictory. If you are concerned about the depth of talent we are trading away, then it can’t be unfair to the rest of the league, can it?

        The Pens had (and still have) a very deep system. As a result, we have earned the right to be one of the few teams that can afford to trade some depth away. And in additon to that, we can also afford to trade away some picks (due to their depth). Shero is the best GM in the league and to think he does not realize the impact of his trades seems a bit ridiculous. He fully understands them, and how they will both impact the current team and future teams. We can certainly have and state our opinions, but do you really think we know more about what is best for the Pen’s organization than their GM? You gotta have faith.

        Once the Crosby / Malkin Cup window closes in 12 years (or less), our chances of winning the Cup are greatly reduced. And in fact, even as those guys age, I believe he will have to offer even more in trades in order to acquire the talent he would need to ‘win now’ because we will get more desperate as the window closes, regardless of how many Cups we would have won with these guys up to that point. Everyone plays for the Cup! You have to seize the moment. At any cost. And our moment is now. And over the next decade or so.

        (I’d much rather see this than the way the Pirates have handled it, endlessly trading away for talent for prospects.)

        1. I’m not talking about how the Pens acquiring Iginla would affect the rest of the league. I could care less about how the Pens’ dealings impact the league. In that regard, I think you’re taking my Yankees comparison too far, Steve. For the purposes of this post I stopped at the “if we build a roster of superstars we can’t lose!” mentality, becuase it clearly doesn’t work in most cases.

          It’s a trap that hope Shero doesn’t fall into. I’m 99.9% positive that he won’t, but he isn’t perfect. Building a team with that mentality can lead to tunnel vision and disruptions that can derail entire seasons. Believe me, I know exactly what I don’t know. That’s why I’m a fan and not a GM. I have faith in the Penguins from the owner’s suite to the ice girls, but that doesn’t mean bad decisions won’t be made.

          On the off chance that the Pens do get Iginla and go on to win the cup, I will be happy to have the Cup back here. I will be at the parade. But in my opinionated, emotional fan’s mind, it won’t be a pure Penguins win. A key component to that Cup will skate off leaving with us with… well, honestly, no one knows what kind of team we’d be looking at. I don’t even think Shero can have that complete a picture. To me, a single cup isn’t worth that cost.

          Like I said before, just because we can doesn’t mean we should. Do you think he is “the piece?” That we can’t get there without him? I don’t.

            1. No matter what, they’re still better than the Yankees ball girls! I KNOW, I KNOW! One is on skates on ice and one is in tennis shoes on grass, so they can’t possibly be compared. I still stand by it, though.

          1. IMO, we are going to win the Cup this year with or without Iginla. But he is available and affordable, why not add him? Regardless, this Pengun team will not be destroyed after the season ends. Sure, some players will not be back – but most (and I would argue ALL) will be due to management’s decision. We will sign the players we want to keep, and politely say ‘goodbye’ to the ones we don’t (see James Harrison).

            The Pens are doing fine, and if they stay healthy, should not only be favored to win the Cup, but will actually do so. This team is just hitting its prime. Very bright future ahead for the organization, to go along with its equally bright, storied past… SIt back and enjoy!

            1. I guess if I were to continue this conversation, I would ask you the opposite question: why add him? And you would respond something that I could probably boil down to, “Because we can,” and therein will lie our fundamental disagreement. I don’t think there is enough upside to bringing him to Pittsburgh to warrant paying a rental player the money and talent it would take – a.k.a. buying a Cup – while running the risk of imploding a high-functioning machine just “because we can.”

              BUT, I like the positivity of your last comment and can basically agree with you, so let’s leave it there.

  11. Comparing an NHL team to a MLB team is senseless. There’s no cap in baseball. How is this a fair comparison? If we can get a star studded cast under a cap, when most teams cannot, does that really make us the Yankees? It makes Ray Shero look even more like a genius compared to other GMs.

Comments are closed.