Sutter's game changing move was Kipper. Everything else worked out to roughly a wash (lots of shrewd moves, lots of blunders). Maybe a slight net positive when you consider Gio, though I'm not sure anyone deserves credit for his success other than Gio himself.
It took a decade to find another reliable goaltender (not an uncommon problem). This is the first time since Kipper we'll go into the playoffs without a huge question mark in net.
The current group of skaters have bigger flaws and structural problems than Sutter's teams, but I also think they are structured better and closer to legitimate contention...if you'll pardon the contradictory terms. Brad finally has the C's in place to build out from, even if everything else is a mess right now. Sutter's rosters always made sense, but lacked the necessary quality at C.
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