Shero Beast Mode: Trade Deadline in Review

Well, shit.  I take a little break from the blog and everything else to go on vacation down Mexico way, thinking I'd get back in time to catch the trade deadline excitement, and during my week abroad EVERYTHING happens.  The Pens' winning streak reached an incredible 15 games.  Sidney Crosby and Paul Martin sustained terrible injuries.  And, of course, Ray Shero made huge trade after huge trade, culminating in his jaw-dropping pilfering of Jarome Iginla from the Calgary Flames.

I followed all of this from afar, feeling big things but unable to blog those feelings.  I'm sure every sports blogger knows the awful sensation of this creative blue-balling, having opinions to vent and no outlet for them.  And with today's 24/7/365 sportsmediascape, waiting even a day to respond to the most recent event makes you old news.  Well I say balls to that.  Balls!  My feelings remain valid, and I'm going to share them, no matter how far past their expiration date they may be.

Five thoughts on the Penguins' new additions...

Brenden Morrow - LW

1. Oh, hey, maybe it's not a terrible idea to wait a little while before reacting to a trade after all!  If I had written this right after the Pens traded for Morrow, I would have celebrated the team getting exactly what they needed: a top-six winger who could fill the void on Malkin's left wing.  And he was, for three days, until Shero picked up Iginla and Morrow was shunted to the third line.  I can't help but feel for Brenden a bit: he was no doubt dreaming of banging in countless rebounds off Neal and Geno bombs, then he has the rug pulled out from under him when the Penguins acquire a guy who is just like him - a well-respected, hard-nosed winger with great leadership qualities and a willingness to score dirty goals - only better, in pretty much every way.  Let's hope he channels his disappointment into becoming the league's most overqualified third-liner and power play specialist to anchor our second unit.


2. The price for Morrow was relatively high, costing the Penguins top defensive prospect Joe Morrow.   Of course, the Pens are stocked with young D-men, and it was pretty widely accepted that eventually one or more would have to be moved if the Pens were to land another top-six winger.  Also, Shero has a nice track record of trading young defensemen for wingers, and Ryan Whitney and Alex Goligoski were both much more established than Morrow.  Add to that the fact that Shero also coaxed a third-round pick from the Stars (he seriously is the king of squeezing valuable throw-ins from other GMs), and this certainly seems like a plus trade for the Penguins, though I wonder if he pulls the trigger on this trade if he knows he's getting Iginla.


3. Yes, we all agree that the Morrow-traded-for-Morrow thing is uproarious, but let's be real here: the lasting name-based joy of this trade is that our Morrow spells his first name Brenden, which means we can look forward to all manners of misspellings. I imagine we'll read or see Brendon, Brendan, Brandon, Branden, Braydon, and, of course, Brent, from confused beat writers, bloggers, and broadcasters before it's all over.  Morrow must enjoy sowing confusion, because to get his preferred number 10, he had to strip it from Tanner Glass.  Mr. Glass in turn decided he wanted Dustin Jeffrey's #15, and Jeffrey was like "Fine, if you're going to be a baby about it just take it!" and switched to number 17.  I don't even know who I'm yelling at anymore. 


4. It's somewhat surprising, after the fleecing that was the Neal trade, that Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk would go back to the well with Shero, but it certainly speaks to Shero's ability to maintain good relationships with rival GMs, even as he continues to build his reputation as the king of the trading hill.  It seems like Shero is all business, doesn't gloat or whine, doesn't get involved in petty disagreements. His professional demeanor is just as important as his ability to find good value and hidden talent.


5. Anytime the Pens make a trade for someone, I like to take a moment before sprinting to his Hockey Reference page to reflect on what, if anything, I can drudge up from my memory about the player.  For Morrow, the number one thing I remembered was that he held the Pierre Maguire "Best Leader in the NHL" mantle for a hot minute a few years back, putting him in the company of fellow not-quite-elite players who nevertheless give NHL pundits a collective hard-on, including Rod Brind'amour, Shane Doan, and (of course) Mike Richards.  Last time I checked, Richards' teammate Dustin Brown held the belt.  Morrow earned his moment in the media glow after the 2007-08 season, which saw him carry the success of a pretty monstrous regular season (32-42-74) into the playoffs, where he led the Dallas Stars to the Western Conference Finals with 9 goals and 15 points in 18 games  An ESPN.com chat with Barry Melrose during that playoff run pretty well captured Morrow's reputation around the league at that point: 

Chris O. Detroit, MI:  Right now, who is your Conn Smythe winner?

Barry Melrose:  Excellent question. Right now, I will say Brendan Morrow of Dallas. I think he is the best leader in the NHL, and Dallas has really overachieved in the postseason, and he is in the middle of everything that happens for the Stars.

In general, it's good to pick up players who have had legitimate Conn Smythe juice at some point in their career, and it seems clear that Shero wasn't going to shake up the team's roster unless he was sure that he was bringing in high-character guys.  Morrow is the archtypical team player, the kind Shero could be confident of fitting into the Penguins' system without upsetting the apple cart.

  Douglas Murray - D

1. Speaking of apple carts... Douglas Murray is about the size and shape of one (I'm guessing; I don't know much about apple carts).  I went to the most recent Penguins-Capitals game last month in Consol, and looking through the rosters in the IceTime program, I was struck by a surprising fact: Alex Ovechkin, listed at 230 pounds outweighed everybody on the Pens by over ten pounds. I had two reactions: 1) hahaha Ovie's fat, and 2) man, are the Pens undersized.  This is particularly obvious against bigger teams (like, say, the Flyers), who can overwhelm the Pens' defense by sending bodies at the net.  Well, Douglas Murray is 6'3" and weighs in a 245 pounds, meaning he's got almost 30 pounds on his next biggest teammate.


2. Better yet, Murray obviously loves throwing that weight around.  I've only been able to watch him play a couple of times so far, but he seems to play kind of like a cornerback in football, trying to force his man to the outside, then driving him into the boards.  He's also adept at clearing the crease, which was easily the most glaring shortcoming of the Penguins' blueline.  If he can keep hammering away at everyone who steps on his side of the blue line, opponents will hopefully be less eager to crash the corners and the crease.


3. The price Shero paid for Murray was, I think, higher than a lot of people expected.  Two second-round draft picks (one of the picks is conditional on the Penguins either winning two rounds in the playoffs or resigning Murray).  Murray had become a whipping boy for San Jose fans - Sharks blog Fear the Fin were glad to be rid of him - and it seems like Shero probably could have gotten him for less.  I assume those two picks would have been used on more top-flight defensive prospects for our top-flight defensive prospect mill, but Shero and the Penguins scouting staff obviously see something in Murray, and maybe a change of scenery will help bring that out.


4. Douglas Murray immediately bolsters our corps of players with two first names joining Paul Martin, Dustin Jeffrey, and James Neal.


5. Analysis of this trade has characterized Murray in one of two way: as a slow-footed, mistake-prone, borderline useless player (this mostly comes from Sharks fans), or as a defensive stalwart in the mold of Rob Scuderi or Hal Gill (this, not surprisingly, is mostly from Penguins fans).  In reality, he's probably a little bit from Column A (he is pretty damn slow), and a little bit from Column B (I expect him to be very useful in the playoffs).  What is clear about Murray, though: he is going to be a fan favorite in Pittsburgh.  He's massive, his nickname is CRANKSHAFT (which I assume means he combines the badassiest qualities of Chev Chelios from CRANK, and John Shaft from SHAFT), and overall he just seems like a bad mothershutyomouth.  He will be loved.
   
   
   
    
   
   
   
   Jarome Iginla - RW
   
   
    
   
   

   1. I'll keep this one short, because we all know what we're getting with Iginla.  He's probably the most beloved player around the NHL, and a sure-fire Hall of Famer.  Like Morrow, he's an amazing leader who demands respect from everybody, and he stuck with the Calgary Flames through thick and extremely thin.  Also like Morrow, he's the kind of guy you can bring in mid-season without worrying about messing with team chemistry - like I said, EVERYONE loves him, and he's got the ability and willingness to play as a complimentary piece or the central focus of the offense.  He doesn't have a signature skill like Ovi's slapshot, Crosby's vision, Datsyuk's puckhandling, or Brad Marchand's flailing to the ice to draw a penalty, but he can do everything at an extremely high level.  He's going to be a joy to root for, and I can't wait to watch Malkin try out his new toy.
   
   
   2. The fact that we got an elite player for what we gave up - a (likely very late) first round pick, and two college players no one has heard of, Ben Hanowski and Kenneth Agostino.  (On an unrelated note, Kenneth Agostino follows in the unforgettable footsteps of Luca Caputi and Angelo Esposito as Italian-sounding players who the Pens traded to get much better players)  Credit is due again to Shero, who realized he had all the leverage in the world, with Iginla demanding a trade to Pittsburgh, and driving a hard bargain.
   
   
   3. It was almost too fun how this trade broke, with the Bruins getting their hopes up, thinking they had a deal, only to have their hearts stomped at the last moment.  Peter Chiarelli's bizarre press conference to announce (read: whine) that they had NOT traded for Iginla was exactly the sort of thing that Shero would never do.  I must say that the B's rebounded well in trading for Jagr - despite myself, I can't help but love this narrative that has Jagr traveling from one Pittsburgh rival to the next, an itinerant soldier-for-hire interested only in bringing down his old battalion. [salutes]
   
   
   4. Like Brenden Morrow, Iginla's name promises to cause all kinds of wackiness.  Not only is "Jarome" spelled weird (it's just JAROMIR with an E instead of an IR, dun-dun-dun), but literally zero of the very casual hockey fans I know - including my mom - can correctly pronounce "Iginla."  Even though it's pronounced exactly as spelled.  I've heard a lot of "Ignila," "Igilna," "Iglina," and I love it.  Also, this has been passed around a lot, but it bears repeating that Iggy's full name is Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tig Junior Elvis Iginla.  How he ended up with the nickname Iggy instead of Junior Elvis is beyond me.
   
   
   5. Man, I can still not believe that Iginla is on the Pens.  The sight of him in a non-Flames jersey is jarring, but the most noticeable thing about him since the trade is that he never seems to not be smiling.  Let's just hope he's happy enough to stay around a few more years.  
   
   
   Jussi Jokinen - LW/C
   
    

   1. Since we haven't seen him suit up for the Pens, I don't have a lot to say about Jussi, other than he's famous for being good at shootouts, which the Penguins have been avoiding like the plague all season long.  But he isn't a one-trick pony - he is very strong in the faceoff circle (another chink in the Penguins' armor), he killls penalties, and he's scored some big goals in the playoffs for the Canes.  His goal and point production have fallen sharply since his breakout season in 2009-10 where he put up a 30-35-65, but he is still a useful NHL player.
      
   2. Like Morrow, Murray, and Iginla, he is definitely on the downswing of his career,but like them, he is a useful asset.  This is especially clear with Crosby out of the lineup; after the Iginla trade, it seemed like the Penguins almost had too many good players, but one injury changes everything.  Suddenly, there's a gaping hole in our ostensible first line, and if the Pens are going to roll with Tyler Kennedy keeping his finger in the dyke, we better get ready for a flood.  Rather than hope that Kennedy, Jeffrey, or Vitale can step up and play above their head, Shero is betting (for the price of a 6th round pick) that Jokinen, who has proven the ability to be a top-line player in the past, can get back to that level.
   
   
   3. Whether Jokinen actually gets to that level is anyone's guess, but there is upside there that just isn't there (yet) with our promising youngsters.  And, to be honest, not every one of these trades needs to pan out.  For all the Gonchars, Guerins, and Gills, there is the occasional Ponikarovsky.  The Penguins want to roll into the postseason with a veteran lineup and proven talent up and down the roster.  With these trades, we have that.  What happens in the playoffs is anybody's guess; the Penguins are now the front-runners,and we'll have targets painted on our backs.  Expectations are sky high, and no acquisition, no matter how talented, can guarantee anything.  But Shero can at the very least rest assured that he's left us in the best possible position, with a team that is built to withstand a long playoff run.  And that's he's proven himself to be the John Shaft of NHL GMs.  He's a complicated man.
   
   
   4. Oh, and to add some icing to Shero's brilliance cupcake, he managed to get Carolina to absorb some (they won't tell us how much) of Jokinen's contract.  Jedi mind trick shit there.
   
   
   5. Jussi will wear #36 for the Pens, which was my number when I played for the Central Catholic Vikings JV hockey team, so I will probably love him.