During best/worst week, it is time to evaluate which trades former Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford made that were the worst ones. He made so many in his tenure in Pittsburgh, that a few of them stick out as truly awful.
Penguins fans are still unsure as to why Rutherford suddenly left the team after the 2020 season, but every general manager has their good moments and their bad moments.
Let's assess which trades he made that were the worst while he was in Pittsburgh, shall we?
The Ryan Reaves trade
This trade was one that still stumps Penguins fans to this day as to why Rutherford felt the need to bring Ryan Reaves to Pittsburgh back in 2017.
The trade sent the Penguins Ryan Reaves and a 2017 second round pick and the Penguins sent Oskar Sundqvist and a 2017 first round pick.
Rutherford figured that somebody needed to protect Crosby and Malkin and that Reaves was going to do that for them and this plan backfired.
Reaves always played fourth line minutes and did not see the ice usually for more than 9 or 10 minutes a night. What a failure.
The Derick Brassard trade
Right before the 2018 trade deadline, Rutherford wanted to go all-in again as the Penguins were coming off of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.
So he sent Ian Cole, Fillip Gustavsson, a 2018 1st round pick, and a 2019 3rd round pick to the Ottawa Senators for a 2018 3rd round pick, Vincent Dunn, and Derick Brassard.
Brassard did not do a whole lot of anything in Pittsburgh and Gustavsson is a really good starting goalie for the Minnesota Wild.
What a failure on this one as well.
The Kapanen and Hallander trade
Another blunder by Rutherford, he decided to not protect Evan Rodrigues for the upcoming expansion draft, sent him to Toronto and took Kapanen (an original Penguins draft pick) back.
The Penguins received: Kasperi Kapanen, Pontus Aberg, and Jesper Lindgren for a 2020 1st round pick, Evan Rodrigues, Filip Hallander, and David Warsofsky.
Kapanen did not pan out in two stints in Pittsburgh and Rodrigues is now a back-to-back Stanley Cup Champion with the Florida Panthers.
Yikes Jim.