I voted B as well. I think to get an A, you have to construct a regular playoff team. To get A+, you need to be a championship caliber team. Championship caliber teams are teams that you can realistically expect to win a Cup that year. Caps, Hawks, Stars, maybe LA & St Louis.
Brad has made some good moves and 2 or 3 great ones. Brodie extension, Hamilton acquisition and the Gio extension. I'm not sure how people can already call the contract an anchor since he's on pace for about 55 points, and is a premier defender and a leader. He's made other good deals like getting Nakladal who appears that he can play in the NHL. Snagging Rasmus and Kylington at the draft I think were good choices for eventual succession planning and/or trading.
Brad gets way too much criticism for his other moves because I think people don't take into account the context in which the deals were made. Some fan favorite deals to whine about:
1. Bollig - OMG why do we need him?! If you remember at the time, the Flames barely had enough NHLers on the roster. They needed someone, anyone, to come in and play a regular shift, or be willing to sit upstairs if the tweeners broke in.
2. Raymond - same deal. We needed NHLers and he was willing to come over. The potential existed for some goal scoring. My problem now is that Raymond was kept on for too long and should have been showed the door. That's a big minus for me in grading Brad.
3. Engelland - again, the same type of deal. The team had no direction at the time and the GM didn't know what he had yet. He needed NHLers to fill roster spots. Overpaid? He's a UFA signing. That's how those things work. I have personally been surprised at Engelland's reliability. He's been more reliable than other d-men at times, including the big guns (except Brodie).
4. Overpaid goalies - this is again phooey. When Ramo was done, the Flames only had 1 NHL goalie in HIller, and weren't confident in him. Rightly so, as it turns out. Ramo, according to rumors, had an offer or two to play elsewhere, so Brad had to increase the dollars. On a 1 year deal, the dollars don't matter. I think the 3-headed goalie monster was a huge gaffe on Brad's part though, and in my opinion, a huge contributing factor to the bad start.
5. Waiving Byron - yeah, Byron stepped his game up after being claimed. But many players step it up after they get a fresh start, or the proverbial wake up call. We all knew what Byron brought, and it wasn't a lot. Jooris' forchecking and goals last year made Byron expendable.
I'm pretty OK with what Brad has done so far and I'd grade him B.
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