Quote:
Originally Posted by Flamesfan05
After 7 yrs, these are facts
1) Heavily invested in defense first but what we have today is no top pair, a bunch of mediocre dmen. Can’t break out of their zone and certainly can’t defend
2) A top line that has stagnated and not productive for 3 yrs now with no hope of breaking out of their slump
3) The bottom 6 that is amongst the worst in the league with no depth and no help anytime soon
4) A minor league coach that is clueless
5) A lottery team that is no better than when he found it
Now, explain why he is not fired yet
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1) the D core is extremely young and this is a transition year due to Gio regessing, and with Brodie and Hamonic moving on. Lots of Upside in Andersson 24, Hanifin 24, Valimaki 22 there are going to be growing pains when promonent NHLers have their minutes replaced by younger players. How old was Gio when he broke out? Lots of D men don't figure it out until ages 27-30. There are also some interesting young pieces behind them (Mackey, Kuznetsov, Poirier)
2) Agreed our main issue is an ineffective 1st line who have regressed for 2 straight years now. I still think Gaudreau is an elite hockey player, but I think Monahan fell off a cliff. This line gets dominated by third lines in playoffs 5v5 this is the biggest failing and hardest thing to find/develop.
3) Disagree. If you want to complain about our 4th line sure. But Backlund, Dube, Lucic, Bennett, Leivo is not a terrible combination for a 3rd line. 4th line without Ryan I see your point.
4) Agree not happy with coach, I would have preferred Bruce Boudreau or Gerard Gallant
5) Western conference championship, playoffs in 4/6 years after taking over a team on a rebuild and drafted in his first draft the highest pick in franchise history. Team is still fairly young, Core under 30 except for Gio who really isn't part of the core anymore.
Overall I think he is an above average GM, and I would allow him to rebuild. There are some good pieces but the main issue on this team is the lack of a top line. That is extremely hard to fix without drafting at the top of the first round. If we do a full rebuild why wouldn't you want him drafting? Look at his drafting track record... very impressive.
NHLers -Tkachuk, Mangiapane, Dube, Andersson, Valimaki, Fox
NHLers but underachieving - Bennett, Kylington
Good prospects in system - Pelltier, Zary, Phillips, Wolf, Kuznetsov, Petterson.
If we are doing a rebuild I would like him to be in control of our drafting. He has missed on goalies and that is my biggest concern - McDonald and Parsons