BREAKING: Penguins To Buy Out Jack Johnson

Jack_Johnson_2018-11-07_1
BREAKING: Penguins To Buy Out Jack Johnson
Photo Credit: @PensRyourDaddy via Wikipedia

Just over 2 years ago, Penguins General Manager Jim Rutherford made a mistake everyone that had been paying attention to the NHL at any point over the last 10 years knew was a mistake and signed Jack Johnson to a 5 year deal worth $3.25M against the cap per year.

He spent the two seasons defending the signing, defending the player, and making sure that it was, in fact, the children who were wrong.

Turns out, it didn’t matter if it was midway through the season, or that his “plus/minus improved as the season wore on,” or that, when looking at his season as a whole, he was objectively and demonstrably bad to the point that the Penguins were an elite team without him and a below average team with him, the end result was still the same: Jack Johnson was a detriment to the Penguins.

From a year ago:

AND THIS WAS ALL JUST IN THE FIRST YEAR.

Then this season happened, the Penguins crashed out of the playoffs early, and GMJR doubled down on his loyalty all over the space of a couple of weeks.

To remedy that, GMJR pulled the trigger, putting him on waivers for the purpose of a buyout after being unable to trade him.

Few things matter more than the Penguins getting better and with this move, they did just that.  Eating some of his salary was always going to be the case whether via trade or buyout, but with $2.08M in savings, they can get some other guys (not named Dom Simon) signed.

Though, it should be noted that GMJR didn’t have to remedy his mistake if he hadn’t made it in the first place.  That shouldn’t get lost here, either.

But the big thing is this:

The Penguins are better today than they were yesterday.

Addition by subtraction.

With that, cue up some Sarah McLachlin and let’s look at some of Johnson’s defining moments with the Penguins:

From the hit chasing…

…to puck handling…

…and actually going down.

BREAKING: Penguins To Buy Out Jack Johnson

And let’s not forget…

The Preseason Own Goal


Cap relief, zone exits, and whistleblower complaints. Lets ride.

https://twitter.com/dameofscones/status/1313151342467256321

And sincerely, fair well, Jack, and good luck in the future.

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