Quote:
Originally Posted by curves2000
A few recent examples of a few situations that have raised my eyebrow a little and the rationale for them given by management when fans said the same thing BEFORE it all unraveled.
1) Nik Grossman: Everybody could tell that he was slow, a defensive liability and that the game has past him by. I understand the need for the Smid LTIR move but when they played him 3 games, he got smoked out of the water due to foot speed and coughed up the puck they decide to terminate his contract. Rationale given was, and I paraphrase here "He's a big body with a physical presence but those older legs take a while to get going" It was evident to everybody the previous season with him and in the pre-season.
2) Eddie Lack: They wanted to shore up the backup position with a more cost-effective player who would give the teams the needed wins in order to preserve a 35 year old starter like Smith. They rode a hot start by Smith and then only used Lack in a few bits and pieces. When they sent him down the rationale by Tre was "The schedule allowed us to use Smitty more than we liked and for Eddie, who's a quality goaltender and a good NHL player, it's tough for a player like him to go in after a few weeks off"
So is this a coaches decision issue? A management issue for a trade? An AHL call-up issue allowing Rittich to start the year in Stockton? Is this an NHL schedule maker issue? If the issue was the wide open schedule and the fact that Eddie Lack was going in cold after a few weeks, than why did we not use him more to start? If he wasn't what we needed, why did we trade for him? Those points that we lost out on will be valuable in April 100%
3) Bouma/Brower: I understand that perhaps Bouma's time with the team may have been over due to rumored off ice issues and the fact that Hathaway could model his game for a lot less than Bouma So they buy out Bouma, don't bring up Hathaway to start and than plug Brower, who's earning double the salary onto the 4th line. The irony is that Bouma's play in Chicago hasn't been poor and we are still stuck with his minor cap hit next season for what appears to be little reason.
Sorry about long post but a few decisions leave a lot of people scratching their heads.
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I'm not sure the first two points are worth a hill of beans at the end of the day. To continue to bring up Grossman a season and a half after the fact is dumb. I honestly don't mean to be rude, but it is obtuse. It's like beating yourself up for tipping that waiter $4.00 too much six months ago.
Went over Brouwer earlier and Hathaway had a bad camp. He hadn't earned his spot yet. But from what we are seeing right now, it looks like the message from the Flames was heard by Hathaway. If anything, the Flames deserve credit for not handing him his spot after a poor performance.