Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
I would say Sutter's core weakness was he was somewhat narrow minded - you see it in how he drafted, and the types of players he traded and acquired.
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I also think that has become something that people say without really looking.
What do you mean by how he drafted and the types of players he acquired? By that I am sure you mean drafting Pelech, Nemisz, Chucko? And acquiring players like Simon, Oliwa, McGrattan? Well, true, all of the above is indeed accurate, but he seemed to draft and acquire finesse players as well.
Backlund, Brodie, Boyd, Wahl, Erixon and some others were all known for being 'finesse' players, not big and tough Western Canadian boys.
Cammalleri, Tanguay, Huselius - all great additions and of the soft and skilled variety. Let's not forget that final 2010 team that featured Dawes, Hagman, Stajan (who when he arrived in Calgary had zero grit), Sjostrom, Lundmark and Ian White.
True, he loved his big, tough teams, but he had reason to - he made it to a phantom goal away from winning a cup with a team that physically ran over the opposition. He then went to LA and won with a big, gritty but skilled team as well. He didn't, however, shy away from drafting or acquiring good players who were undersized or even soft - I just think he didn't want an undersized and soft team overall.