412 Sports Talk

Jack Johnson is no longer a Pittsburgh Penguin. Mission accomplished, pop the champagne. No really, Johnson no longer being a Penguin automatically makes this team better. If you're reading this you probably are already aware of how much of a black hole he was to this team. Ok so the Penguins, who lost to the Montreal Canadiens in the play-in-round of the 2020 Covid Stanley Cup Playoffs are "better".  How much better, I'm really not sure. Let's start with addition via subtraction. We already know Johnson is gone but so his "almost as bad" defensive partner Justin Schultz. Schultz was good in 2016 and 2017 in the back-to-back Stanley Cup runs, but recently he turned back into a pumpkin. Schultz is a replacement-level defenseman who provided less offense than his skills and payrate would suggest, while being a defensive landmine. Everytime the Penguins trotted out Schultz and Johnson as a defensive tandem I started getting PTSD flashbacks.  The Penguins re

  Pittsburgh Penguins' general manager Jim Rutherford has taken quite a beating this off-season when it comes to criticism of his transactions, and deservedly   so. Rutherford's signing of Johnson, giving away assets like he's Michael Jackson, and constantly moving guys in and out of Pittsburgh even led to some of the players on the team criticizing him anonymously. And while I agree that Rutherford is at the forefront when it comes to blame, he's far from alone. The players have a share, since they are the ones actually playing, but also we need to look at Penguins' head coach Mike Sullivan as well.  Sullivan replaced Mike Johnston as head coach about 1/3 through the 2015-2016 season and instantly turned things around. Not only did the Pens have the best record in the league from the date Sullivan was hired until the end of the season, they steamrolled their way to a Stanley Cup, then won it all again in 2017, while using two goalies, and playing without their numb

Pittsburgh Penguins' General Manager Jim Rutherford has won three Stanley Cups in his career as a GM, two of them coming as Penguins' GM, and no one can ever take that away from him. That said we live in a world where it's about "What have you done for me lately?" and lately, Rutherford has failed the Penguins as GM. Not to be hyperbolic, but if you graded every move he's made after the back-to-back Stanley Cups, Rutherford would be sent to summer school. 

One drum that I have personally been beating for a while now is that goalies in the NHL and running backs in the NFL should be treated the same when it comes to utilization and salary. I am not a fan of drafting goalies or running backs early in their respected drafts, unless you feel you have a once in a lifetime type of player (Adrian Peterson for example). I also feel that you should get the most of your goalie and/or running back, thank them for their service, and allow another team to give them that big contract they have earned. 

 "Pride comes before the fall"- Proverbs 16:18  In the summer of 2018, coming off of a humbling defeat to their rival and eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Washington Capitals, the Pittsburgh Penguins were still looking to be in damn good shape. They had won back-to-back Stanley Cups the previous two seasons, and won their consecutive playoff series, only to finally run out of gas as the Capitals finally overcame the hump and dethroned them as champs. It happens, most people, including myself, weren't all that mad that the Pens did not win three consecutive cups. Let's be realistic here. 

I have wanted to write this blog for a while now. Ever since my son was born, honestly. I just wanted to do it right and make sure that I was in a position where I felt I was truly ready to speak on it. Today is finally that day and I'm ready to talk about my life as a father. Not just a father, a single father, with 50-50 custody, to the sweetest, loving, awesome little boy ever, Jameson Thomas Nolan. A few things I want to get out of the way before we proceed. I will not be bashing my son's mother in this post. I'm writing this to give a glimpse into the day and a life of what's it like for me as a single father with shared custody of my son. I am not special. This post is not to gloat or say "Look at how great of a dad I am" Ok. Let's go. Background: I grew up without my biological father. I never saw him, knew him, heard him, of him, didn't know his name or why he wasn't around. It was as if someone literally deleted the idea of a &