Quote:
Originally Posted by Red
Tre's team is hopeless in the playoffs. Doesn't matter how he got there, good trades, bad trades, good and bad RFA deals and bad UFA ones, ultimately you take time to build something that will give you results.
No team is ever really finished building. But it's safe to say that after 6 years this should be close to what Tre envisioned as a good team. It's on him that he built a team full of soft and undersized players. He took the "new NHL is fast and skilled size be damned" too literally and too early. 2-12 in the last playoff 3 series and looked terrible in the process.
Heard on the Fan that Tre loves big players. Was shocked to hear that because he keeps bringing small guys like Foo, Czarnik, Mangi, Dube, Ryan etc. With Johnny on the team there is no room for more small forwards.
I like Tre as a person. Good guy, seems smart and focused, but I feel his thoughts on how the game is right now are incorrect. His results prove that Sutter was a much better GM.
I know Sutter had his issues, but his teams were competitive in a much stronger West and actually won some playoff games. No freebies.
With a contract extension we are almost guaranteed to see a few more years of Tre. I have no problem with it, but I hope he is starting to "get it". You need balls to win in the playoffs. Get guys with balls and heart, no more 5.6" speed/skill projects.
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I can't get there about blaming this on Tre. I actually think the team is well constructed.
It's not Tre's fault that (1) the team can't rise to the occasion and (2) the entire team is having an off year, with Johnny leading the way from all-star to replacement level quality play.
The only thing I blame on Tre is that the coaching has been terrible. The two issues above aren't GM issues, they are coaching issues. First Gully was a disaster. Then, after firing gully and admitting the team was fragile, he hired Peters (an unknown commodity)...who while better, was also unable to coach in the playoffs.
Like ####...just hire a real coach.