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Originally Posted by JiriHrdina
Non Paul Byron examples please.
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I don't really care if Hudler's been hurt, he is a better hockey player than Troy Brouwer.
I love Frolik, but he is not a better hockey player than Mike Cammalleri.
I briefly bought into the Jokipakka kool-aid but Jokipakka is not better than Russell. In fact the only time he's actually looked good was when he was playing with Nakldal in a sheltered third pair role and Nakladal was getting everything on net. Never mind actually signing Grossmann, whom the coach had pure nepotistic relationship with.
Raymond and Engelland are not better hockey players than Stempniak and Schlemko. I'll give Treliving a pass on Schlemko only because he's the one who brought Schlemko in (albeit by sheer chance with Giordano injured). And yes, Stempniak was dealt just before Tre got here. But not only was Treliving personally familiar with the player, the player hardly signed elsewhere right away, whereas Mason Raymond was a day one signing.
Freddie Hamilton has not been better than Josh Jooris, although that's a pretty minor one. Jooris has been hurt anyways so I guess Treliving lucked into a player not getting hurt.
Hell, I'd argue Glencross and Jones are outperforming Alex Chiasson. Right Now.
Do I think Treliving has made some good moves WRT minor league deals and prospects? yes I do. But it is all for naught if he is going to shackle this team down at the NHL level with bad signings every year. Bad signings are not made sensible just because he keeps preaching that "term is the killer, not AAV". Bad contracts are bad contracts if they make your team worse.
This team has gotten progressively worse since he's started to make his mark on it.
Oh, and while he may talk about Hartley's puck possession as a valid excuse to fire him, he himself has brought in all the worst puck possession players on this team with the sole exception of Wideman. The LA Kings got better by not only hiring Darryl Sutter - but by trading Jack Johnson away. Treliving's steadfast refusal to admit certain players are possession black holes becausre they fit some aesthetic criteria he has laid out does not justify his actions. He almost brought in Lauri Korpikoski, the worst possession player in the NHL - but we lucked out that another team signed him before Tre could. Grossmann and Engelland are statistically two of the three worst penalty killers in the NHL over the last, I forget, four years, and we literally went into the season expecting these guys to make a difference on the PK.