mikey's Thread of Penguin Randomness

[faftorial]

After a productive first full season with the Penguins, the shortened 94-95 season saw him produce only 4 goals and 16 points in 31 games, following which Straka was traded to the Ottawa Senators on April 7, 1995 for Norm MacIver and Troy Murray. The following season, on January 23, 1996, less than a year after being traded to Ottawa, he was traded again. Straka was traded to the New York Islanders in a three-way, five-player deal between Ottawa, New York and the Toronto Maple Leafs, that involved Straka, Don Beaupre, Bryan Berard, Damian Rhodes and Wade Redden. He would be placed on waivers and claimed by the Florida Panthers on March 15, 1996. Florida would not re-sign Straka after the 1996–97 season, which made him an unrestricted free agent. He then returned to Pittsburgh beginning in 1997–98.

[mikey]

In my head, we got him back sooner than that...I knew he was a suitcase for a bit, but I thought that all wrapped up even quicker than that...I assumed he was on the '97 team...where I guess he would have beat out Joey Dziedzic and those other clowns pretty easily...

[Jim]

I bet @Jim knows.

Was this supposed to be at me? Because it didn't at me...

Yep, Ottawa for Maciver and Murray, nothing else added by Pittsburgh.
Part of a huge trade between Ottawa and Islanders (Straka, a two eyed Berard, Beaupre for Redden, Rhodes)
WAIVED by the Islanders after 22 games (12pts), claimed by Florida.
Played the next year with Florida but then a UFA.
Resigned with he Pens, I want to say it was like $600K, but I can not find it.
(I was at the game when he broke his leg.)
After six and a half years, including 83 and 95 point seasons, shipped off to LA for Strbak (his only NHL year) and Anshakov (never played in North America)
Finished off (well) playing 3 years for the Rangers (187pts in 224gms)

[mikey]

Oh wow, it was that Troy Murray...I had no idea...he played 13 RS + 12 PO games for us...and then moved on to Colorado and won a Cup with them (no recollection of him playing there)...

For some reason, I thought he was a Blackhawk that got traded to New York in '94...but while typing this, I guess it's at this point I'm conflating two careers...Troy Murray's start and Brian Noonan's finish...ah well...win some/lose some...

[Jim]

... I admit that in my head, before I looked, I was confusing Troy Murray and Glen Murray. To my defense, their acquisition trades were only 4 months apart... twenty four and a half years ago...

[iamjs]

w/o looking, who did they trade him for and who did they trade to get him back? I don't remember what team(s) he was on in between the two stints with the Pens. Panthers? Senators?

Uhh...I think we got Norm Maciver from Ottawa for him early on. He of expansion defenseman fame. Then I thought we claimed him back off waivers at some point from Florida...and then I firmly (I think) remember the deal to LA...it was for Martin Strbak and Sergei Anshakhov (or some Russian prospect that would never come over)...Strbak probably played a Lupaschuk's worth of games for us and likely went back to Romania or New Zealand to play hockey...

I thought Straka was brought back on a PTO. Trying to find a link to back that up.

Also never realized he had his bags packed and was ready to head back to Plzen without playing an NHL game in 1992.

The first time Panthers center Martin Straka and the NHL nearly parted company was September 1992. Straka, the Penguins' first-round pick in that year's draft, was a few weeks into his first training camp with Pittsburgh and he was pining for Plzen, his hometown in the Czech Republic.

One morning he reported to the Penguins' practice rink with his luggage in tow and informed General Manager Craig Patrick in heart-rending, halting English, "I'm going home. Give me plane ticket."

Straka wound up staying, but only because Jaromir Jagr, a Penguin by way of Kladno in the Czech Republic, sheltered him from the culture shock by putting Straka up in his house and making him feel at home.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xp ... story.html

[mikey]

I found this slightly odd entry here:

http://hockeynut.com/0304/pittrans19972003.html

August 13 - Agreed to terms with restricted free agent center Martin Straka on a multi-year contract.

The timing of a PTO wouldn't be right. But then again, neither would him being an RFA...

Hmmm...minus the RFA part, it may be true...

http://www.hockeyzoneplus.com/salaries/ ... tin-straka

[iamjs]

That one looks like his contract in 1999. I found that one on ProSportsTransactions too.
https://www.prosportstransactions.com/h ... mit=Search

He originally signed on August 6, 1997 as a free agent. I can't find anything for 1998, so I don't know if his 1997 contract was a two year contract and was never reported that way or if he signed a second one year contract before his 1999 multi-year deal.

I have a bunch of THN yearbooks on my shelf, primarily 1995-96 to 2011-12 with some additional pre-1990s mixed in. I'll see what they are listing when I get home.

[mikey]

I think he signed a two year contract...because look at that structure in the last link I provided. That makes sense. Well...let me put it this way...

It makes more sense to take a two-year contract with a depreciating year because of the job security of remaining in the league at that point (apparently) than it does to sign a one-year deal, have 29 points in 55 games and take a 43% paycut when he would have been due a qualifying offer as an RFA...

[King Colby]

How the hell was Martin Strbak, a 29 year old rookie with 5 games of NHL experience, and Sergei Anshakov, a 2and round pick a year and a half prior with 5 points across 2 seasons in Russia, the best they could do?

Was the scouting at that time really that bad? Or did teams just hold a gun to their head and take advantage of the financial situation?

I mean the slow of guys with no pedigree was senseless. They didn't even acquire draft picks other than a 3rd for ference, a 5th for randy robitaille, and a 4th for Ian Moran. Oh and then later they got a 2nd for Hedberg.

Best NHL players they got were mikael samuelsson and ville niemenen...

[Gaucho]

The franchise was nearly broke.

[mikey]

It's crazy how bad they did with...everything. If they were actually good at stuff, I'd be independently wealthy because I had virtually every hockey card of all the generation Xers...and basically none of them panned out (relative to the field)...Orpik did, but wasn't a star. Whitney did, but got moved for Kunitz before we fully hit our stride. Flower did, but didn't finish top-5 for the Vezina in any season with us. Oh and Bugsy, who his own dad notoriously passed on for Sebastian Caron...he, of that one awesome save against Philadelphia...

When you look at the roster in '03 and '04 and then look at '06 (a team that also finished last) and look at how many players were full-timers with the Penguins that never played in the NHL again, it's completely insane. I get money was tight, but look at Ottawa...they got Erik ******* Brannstrom for Mark Stone. They got a 1, 2, 3 or whatever for J.G. Pageau.

We're partly to blame for Beech. But a lot of the rest we picked up weren't draft picks, they were failing prospects...

And we traded young Andrew Ference, as I recall, who had just played in the short-lived YoungStars game for future considerations at the time...it then morphed into a 3 out of probably pity...

[robbiestoupe]

Craig Patrick had his moments early in his career as GM, but took crazy pills later in his stint and it showed.

[NTP66]

Source of the post but took crazy pills later

He had a really bad alcohol problem, unfortunately.

[robbiestoupe]

Source of the post but took crazy pills later

He had a really bad alcohol problem, unfortunately.

huh, for some reason TIL

[the wicked child]

I try not to get too mad at the horrendous trades and signings CP made at the end because without all of that, Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, etc probably don't happen.

That said... Woof.

[mikey]

Yeah that's the old thing, right? What if we did better in those trades, how does it affect Sid and Geno. I don't know that Malone-Kraft-Morozov is a second line on a Cup winning team...

[meow]

Are you guys saying that Jani Rita and Cory Cross are not Cup winning deadline additions? Is that what I am hearing?

[nocera]

I drafted Kraft in my fantasy league. I had high hopes.

[mikey]

I was legitimately into getting Jani Rita. I was pumped for that...le sigh...

[Jim]

Craig Patrick had an internal cap that he needed to stay under, and it was LOW... Carolina, Arizona, etc have nothing on the financial poo job that Baldwin put the team in. Even after Lemieux got the team in 99, the hole was so deep that they still needed to move Jagr and Kovalev for $ reasons, and were not able to get above water until the Crosby lottery win.

[Jim]

I know that some people here go to CapFriendly, and if MME is anyone here, calling you out... but this was just posted: "ZAR is untouchable for me. I saw canucks fans mention on Twitter that they’d like to get him. The price would probably be an A prospect & 1st, similar to goodrow."

The referenced trade was SJ sent Goodrow, 3rd to TB for Greco, 1st. (Greco is a 26yo AHLer, not an A-prospect).
To be fair, the "Who won the Trade" poll went 93-2-2 in favor of the Sharks.

An A-prospect and a 1st for ZAR

[mikey]

He's an analytics darling...if the stat watchers could vote on the Selke, ZAR would get some serious consideration. He's been good as part of that group with Blugers and Tanev, but **** man, that's a bridge too far...

If we get an A prospect and a 1st for ZAR, I'm taking it running. Right now. Even immediately before the playoffs I'd do it. That's how far off that valuation is...

[iamjs]

I think he signed a two year contract...because look at that structure in the last link I provided. That makes sense. Well...let me put it this way...

It makes more sense to take a two-year contract with a depreciating year because of the job security of remaining in the league at that point (apparently) than it does to sign a one-year deal, have 29 points in 55 games and take a 43% paycut when he would have been due a qualifying offer as an RFA...

that's true.

I went to look up what my THN yearbooks had, and the 1998-99 yearbook is the only year that I don't have. This was the year that I was in the hospital when my appendix blew. I asked for a THN yearbook to occupy the time (this was 1998, so pre-iPhones and iPads), and they brought me a Sporting News one instead. Not a big deal at the time and never really felt the need to seek one out, but I might have to do some shopping on eBay now.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Yep: https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Hockey-New ... SwmeNd7lTe