Steve Hutchinson gets inshrined into the PFHOF

[John63]

Russell did screw up the situation.

But Hutchinson did not have to agree to the poison pill. I'll call what he said about playing next to Jones what it is...bunk. A nice bit of hindsight ignoring his actions and decisions as a grown man.

That was his decision as much as Russell's mistake.
So good for the Vikings that they got a player into the HOF.

I agree with this take. Hutch stood to make a boat load of money no matter who he signed with, but he chose to leave a defending conference champion for a .500ish team. It was an underhanded lawyer trick that he knew would result in him leaving the team.

Ruskell screwed up big time by trying to pinch pennies instead of slapping the FT on him, but that's hindsight. Fact is he was sucker punched. The deal was that Hutch could still go out on the FA market and bring back an offer and the Hawks would match it.

Yup I totally Agree Ruskell screwed the pooch there.

 

[Mad Dog]

I think you guys are using a lot of restrospectoscope to rag on Ruskell. The transition tag was at the time used frequently to let a player determine his market value and then have the team match that and keep the player. Ruskell was just playing by the rules to get Hutch a contract that was in line with his value. He would have never made less here than in Minnesota. But the poison pill ensured that he'd have to make more in Seattle which was an unfortunate loophole no one had ever used and was eventually closed by the league. It was underhanded but clever move by the agent but I don't think you can blame Ruskell for not being aware this could happen.

Clearly Hutch wanted to stick it to the Seahawks and I'm not going to forgive that. Ruskell wasn't a great GM but I'd rather skewer him over all his other screw ups than the Hutch deal.

 

[RiverDog]

I think you guys are using a lot of restrospectoscope to rag on Ruskell. The transition tag was at the time used frequently to let a player determine his market value and then have the team match that and keep the player. Ruskell was just playing by the rules to get Hutch a contract that was in line with his value. He would have never made less here than in Minnesota. But the poison pill ensured that he'd have to make more in Seattle which was an unfortunate loophole no one had ever used and was eventually closed by the league. It was underhanded but clever move by the agent but I don't think you can blame Ruskell for not being aware this could happen.

Clearly Hutch wanted to stick it to the Seahawks and I'm not going to forgive that. Ruskell wasn't a great GM but I'd rather skewer him over all his other screw ups than the Hutch deal.

I'm at least in partial agreement. Ruskell thought he was doing Hutchinson a favor by putting the TT on him so he could test the market and undoubtedly thought that he was dealing with honest men. He did not in his wildest dreams anticipate the poison pill. Hutch made him look like a fool.

But nevertheless, Ruskell did disobey Holmgren's instructions to put the FT on him, and he's the one that ultimately has to take the blame. We don't hand out medals to suckers.

 

[Frank12]

This one is really hard for me to figure out. I loved him here as a player but the way he left really stung. I have a jersey that I’ve added each seahawks hof’er number to but I’m just not sure if I’ll pull that trigger for Hurch or not. With that said he definitely deserves his place on the hof.

You can't really be that hard on the guy all he wanted was to sign a contract it was the team that fumbled this deal up, after what the team did I really don't blame him for leaving.. I'm proud of Hutch and still love the guy.

 

[kidhawk]

This one is really hard for me to figure out. I loved him here as a player but the way he left really stung. I have a jersey that I’ve added each seahawks hof’er number to but I’m just not sure if I’ll pull that trigger for Hurch or not. With that said he definitely deserves his place on the hof.

You can't really be that hard on the guy all he wanted was to sign a contract it was the team that fumbled this deal up, after what the team did I really don't blame him for leaving.. I'm proud of Hutch and still love the guy.

But really it can be that hard. He was one of the best guards in the league at the time. Signing a contract with a poison pill attached that only kept us from matching it wasn't his only option. If he'd come back to us and said that they offered him (insert dollar amount here) I'm certain we would have found a way to make it work. It wasn't the Vikings value of this contract that kept us from matching, only the poison pill. He is a smart guy, I'm sure he knew what he was doing when he signed it.

All in all, it's in the past and they've mended fences, I'm just not 100% that I want to add him to the jersey with the likes of Jones, Largent and Kennedy. I'm also not sure that I won't add him, just that I'm torn

 

[hawkfan68]

I think you guys are using a lot of restrospectoscope to rag on Ruskell. The transition tag was at the time used frequently to let a player determine his market value and then have the team match that and keep the player. Ruskell was just playing by the rules to get Hutch a contract that was in line with his value. He would have never made less here than in Minnesota. But the poison pill ensured that he'd have to make more in Seattle which was an unfortunate loophole no one had ever used and was eventually closed by the league. It was underhanded but clever move by the agent but I don't think you can blame Ruskell for not being aware this could happen.

Clearly Hutch wanted to stick it to the Seahawks and I'm not going to forgive that. Ruskell wasn't a great GM but I'd rather skewer him over all his other screw ups than the Hutch deal.

Look at it this way....Ruskell got paid big $$$ to know the ins and outs of contracts. If Hutch's agent can find a loophole, then Ruskell should have known it existed. It was Ruskell's fault that Hutch left the Seahawks. Like it is Howard Schultz's fault there isn't pro basketball team in Seattle since 2008.

 

[RiverDog]

But really it can be that hard. He was one of the best guards in the league at the time. Signing a contract with a poison pill attached that only kept us from matching it wasn't his only option. If he'd come back to us and said that they offered him (insert dollar amount here) I'm certain we would have found a way to make it work. It wasn't the Vikings value of this contract that kept us from matching, only the poison pill. He is a smart guy, I'm sure he knew what he was doing when he signed it.

All in all, it's in the past and they've mended fences, I'm just not 100% that I want to add him to the jersey with the likes of Jones, Largent and Kennedy. I'm also not sure that I won't add him, just that I'm torn

That's about as close of a take to my opinion as I've read in this thread. The Devil didn't make Hutch sign that contract. He knew what he was doing. If he didn't, then he's a stooge not worthy of our respect.

Hutch was not honest with is teammates, coaches, and his GM. He told everybody and his dog that he wanted to remain a Seahawk. He owed his team a fair shake at resigning him. He was part of a successful franchise that arguably should have had a ring, and after he left, he never got close to sniffing another SB as none of his teams ever got out of the first round of the playoffs. The strategy that him and his agent came up with was a sneaky, underhanded way to leverage the absolute maximum amount of money possible.

I lost a lot of respect for Hutch during that time, but I'm not one to hold grudges. He seems genuinely contrite, almost apologetic, and I'm willing to forgive him for his misdeeds he committed against the team I love and would stand up and cheer him on should he ever be invited to raise the 12 flag before a home game. But I won't ever forget how that all came down.

 

[Seahawkfan80]

But really it can be that hard. He was one of the best guards in the league at the time. Signing a contract with a poison pill attached that only kept us from matching it wasn't his only option. If he'd come back to us and said that they offered him (insert dollar amount here) I'm certain we would have found a way to make it work. It wasn't the Vikings value of this contract that kept us from matching, only the poison pill. He is a smart guy, I'm sure he knew what he was doing when he signed it.

All in all, it's in the past and they've mended fences, I'm just not 100% that I want to add him to the jersey with the likes of Jones, Largent and Kennedy. I'm also not sure that I won't add him, just that I'm torn

That's about as close of a take to my opinion as I've read in this thread. The Devil didn't make Hutch sign that contract. He knew what he was doing. If he didn't, then he's a stooge not worthy of our respect.

Hutch was not honest with is teammates, coaches, and his GM. He told everybody and his dog that he wanted to remain a Seahawk. He owed his team a fair shake at resigning him. He was part of a successful franchise that arguably should have had a ring, and after he left, he never got close to sniffing another SB as none of his teams ever got out of the first round of the playoffs. The strategy that him and his agent came up with was a sneaky, underhanded way to leverage the absolute maximum amount of money possible.

I lost a lot of respect for Hutch during that time, but I'm not one to hold grudges. He seems genuinely contrite, almost apologetic, and I'm willing to forgive him for his misdeeds he committed against the team I love and would stand up and cheer him on should he ever be invited to raise the 12 flag before a home game. But I won't ever forget how that all came down.

Hope you are well my friend.
I agree with your opinion.

 

[RiverDog]

Hope you are well my friend. I agree with your opinion.

I am. Thanks for asking!

 

[ZorntoLargent]

For Roland's sake... *enshrined.

Wait, maybe it is "inshrined", cause he's IN the HOF? :stirthepot: