Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
BAD:
- Brouwer
- Neal
- Raymond
GOOD:
- Ryan
- Engelland
- Frolik
- Markstrom
MARGINAL:
- Hiller
- Czarnik
- Tanev?
It's not great, but it is also not that bad, either. What did I miss? (You will notice I am counting only multi-year deals )
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Warning: this is going to be a very negative post. Let me apologize now.
I must be a tough critic because I think all 10 of these signings are pretty bad, or decent at best. I guess the Frolik signing was the best, but he was never really underpaid or anything. Same goes for Ryan. I think Ryan's cap hit could probably be better used in other areas. Very useful player though. I think the Talbot signing was pretty good, but again, he wasn't underpaid.
And I realize it's unfair to expect UFA signings to result in underpaid players. But it has happened before:
The Tanguay (Sutter) and Huddler (Feaster) signings were far better than any of these. Morrison and Jokinen also signed friendly deals as UFAs. They were legitimately underpaid. Morrison played as the number one center and made less than 2 mill. Jokinen always played as a number one center and put up 60+ points. When Tanguay returned to Calgary, he made pretty much nothing. Glencross also signed in Calgary as a UFA. This ended up being a steal.
I think the Tanev signing will end up being Treliving's third worst signing after the Neal and Brouwer signings (and I hated both of those signings the moment they were announced). However, unlike the Neal, Raymond, and Brouwer signings, I think Tanev will at least be decent for a year or two. Assuming he isn't injured. The 4.5 million would have been better spent on Vatanen + Haula, or Hoffman, or acquiring Nate Schmidt. Plus, these contracts wouldn't have had bad term. As for Markstrom, he's a great goalie, but I will be shocked if this contract doesn't cripple the team when he is 34, 35, and 36 years old. No UFA signed goalie has ever won the cup in the history of the NHL. And even so, there are younger goalies who will be UFAs next year (Grubauer, Binnington, if I'm not mistaken). Good goalies usually become available prior to expansion drafts.
But I think Treliving's biggest failures have actually been in coaching decisions (either this or goalie acquisitions).
Hartley was solid. Gulutzan was cataclysmic. Peters was okay, but Treliving failed to do a proper background check. Ward is fine, but there were clearly better options available. Gerard Gallant and Bruce Boudreau and clearly far superior coaches by any metric.