Quote:
Originally Posted by kehatch
If the franchise was bringing on just one of Sakic/Roy I could give them the benefit of the doubt. Or if they were a solid franchise with a history of good decisions I could give them the benefit of the doubt.
But the Avalanche don't have that history. And bringing on two ex franchise players over a short period of time (assuming the Roy rumor ends up true), both with questionable credentials, tells me they are more interested in appealing to the fan base then making hockey appropriate decisions.
I think this is more about repairing the image of the Avalanche and giving them a franchise face along with some character. Which is fine I guess. But that isn't a hockey ops motive.
But again, I don't really care much. There aren't many teams I care less about then the Avalanche. So I am kinda done posting here!
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What questionable credentials do they have though?
Roy has had 7 successful seasons as HC of a Junior team in which only 1 time did the team fail to win a play-off series and he won a Memorial Cup. Is that vastly different from many other coaches at the NHL level? Sure there are different routes to take but that seems similar to Mike Babcock minus the one year he had at the AHL level. Did that year in Cincinatti make him a much more ready NHL coach than Roy would be? Is Dan Byslma's 3 years in the AHL more impressive than Roy's time in the CHL? Darryl Sutter coached in the amazing IHL for two years and then was an assistant for 2 years is that what Roy needs to be a qualified NHL coach?
Sakic is taking on a role similar to what Elway does where he picks the hockey guys and then seems to let them make the day to day decisions. He has spent the past 3-4 years since his retirement in the Avs front office does that not make him qualified to do that role? He isn't the GM, he is in charge of the big picture running of the team. Seems like he could do that.
I am not saying either or both are going to be successful but saying they have questionable credentials seems odd when they both have spent significant time since their retirement in roles that are similar to what they are doing now and they both have similar backgrounds to other people in these roles in the NHL.