The more and more I look at the season and how Tre's tenure has gone here, the more and more I think we are looking at an overall poor performing GM in the grand scheme of things. There is LOT's of evidence to back this up! Not every aspect is poor performing in my opinion but enough are that I think it's a problem.
1) UFA signing's: This has been a very big sore point and one that can't be under looked. If we look a the UFA signing's from 14/15 season until today there are FAR more big misses than hit's. Some of them may be on the smaller side and other's handcuff the cap and the team long term. All these mistakes with the supposed "Elite Hockey Executive" Burke at the side who always talks about July 1st mistakes on TV
Very little excuses for a lot of these mistakes and the reason's that may have lead to them put ice on all all this so called "homework" they do. Lot's of talk about looking into every aspect of a player and "homework, homework and asking around" but a lot of these issues end up being known in the NHL or to average fans.
2) Coaches: Say what you want about Hartley but he did get a very young team into the 2nd round of the playoffs almost 5 years ago. Hartley was extended and than fired the first year, leaving ownership with the $1.5-2 million tab + Asst. Coaches
Gully was brought in as some amazing coach, high metrics and advanced stats, a "players coach" blah blah blah. We did nothing at all and towards the end even basic members of the media and average fan's are like "What is this guy doing?" Again, enough of a body of work out there that this guy isn't bench boss material and was being tactically out coached. Fired with a year left on his deal leaving ownership with the bill.
Peter: Last year was very successful but the playoffs were not at all. This year we will see what happens but it's not looking very good at all.
3) Core and Key Players: The amount of key players on this club and the key contributors the last few years have mostly been drafted, signed or developed by previous regimes. Gio, Brodie, Stajan, Monny, Johnny, Backlund, Ferland.
Very little in the way of Tre's guy's have really had a ton of long term, meaningful impact on the overall and top level performance.
We are doing all of this while being in CAP HELL and having our top guys signed to great value contracts for the most part.
I get some of the love for Tre from his fan's and we always hear the stories about how he is "the hardest working guy, always on the phone, in on all the deals, leaving no stone unturned" We get it but I don't know if the results are really showing the fruition. In the money management business, he is a very very active fund manager but he is delivering below average returns for the most part.
I don't know what the future holds but overall I don't think I or any other fan should be thrilled with the performance of this club, this franchise, where this season is going or where it may be heading.
Tough all around
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