Quote:
Originally Posted by neo45
"I think the style of play, people talk about big and whatever word you want to use, I think you need to have heavy teams now," he said. "I think you have to play a heavy game. That's not just a personal preference. Turn on the TV tonight and watch the games.
"There are steps along the way. We've got to take a lot of steps but in order to be there at the end, to build a championship, you do have to have a blueprint and you look at the games that are being played now. It's hard hockey. It's heavy hockey. It's a man's game. It's a big boy's game out there right now. In order to have success, I fully believe you have to have a team that can play in those games."
Straight from Treliving’s mouth before he traded for Bollig and drafted Hunter Smith
So yes the proof is in the pudding
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Was Burke going to hire a guy who had a completely different hockey philosophy? No, but it doesn't mean they align 100%.
Was Brad going to oppose his boss's wishes/mandate in his first important situation? No.
PHOPs = primarily responsible for long-term strategy and vision
GM = primarily responsible for operational/day-to-day
Some overlap between both to be sure. Burke had been on the job for 10 months...one imagines he had infused his philosophy into the org by that point.
As for 2014, the McDonald pick hurts. 4 of the next 5 are quality NHLers.
As for Smith at 54, picsk 49-53 were busts, too, including quality orgs like STL, LAK, NAS, and SJ. 3 of the next 4 picks turning out okay to great (Donato, Montour, Dvorak) sucks, but such is life.
Ultimately there were 8 quality NHL players in that 2nd round and a few more tweeners. The best pick was probably Dvorak at 58 (depending how the goalies turn out). Would've been nice to hit with at least one pick, but such is life.