[Brad Marsh]

Wow this discussion/debate got 1000x better over the last 5 pages or so! Great job CP! Both sides of the debate engaging in actual dialogue, and even though we're far from consensus, everyone making good points and counter-points. The CP I've grown to love! It's nice when both sides of the debate are cordial and drop the escalating sarcasm.

I certainly see both sides of this coin. I actually have really liked Brad Treliving as GM. It's funny, and maybe it's one of the reasons that I'm not a GM or in hockey or anything like that, but I've actually really liked most of Treliving's work "at the time". Most of what he's done has had my support. Trades, free agent signing, RFA extensions, etc. So many times I've come away thinking he really is the Wizard! That would include the Neal signing, and even the Hamonic trade. At the time they seemed like the right moves and I was excited about them.

But here we are 7 years in and it feels like the sum is less than the parts, and that somehow we've digressed. It's crazy.

The difference is that as a fan, I have the luxury of being wrong about any given transaction, but there's a different level of accountability for the GM.

I agree with the poster that cited the Sam Bennett pick and our failure at nailing that #1 C spot with our highest draft pick ever. That one stings and accounts for a lot of the other problems, at least as far as the roster is concerned and the philosophy of building p the middle.

But I think by far the greatest contributor to the team's lack of success over the last few years in particular has been the coaching decisions. Even Peters, but also Ward, and especially Gulutzen. Not often that a GM will get 4 cracks at a head coach.

So here we are today.......I feel really good about Sutter. I'm in the camp that would like to see a bigger shake-up and re-tool, but the likelihood of that happening is getting lower by the day (although could still happen). Instead it looks like the team might give it another shot with this core group under Sutter - and I think I can live with that. Gaudreau is still super dynamic, and I'm still a fan of Monahan. Some Sutter "types" acquired (Pitlick) or rumored (Coleman) could be some of the missing ingredients - I could see it working. So I'd be ok with that. Especially if Markstron can stay healthy. The margin between winning and losing is so slim, that we just need a couple of things that went wrong last to go right this year, and this entire thing could turn around fairly quickly. I do think that could happen.

But I also agree that there are a couple of critical decision points that are on the immediate horizon that will be fascinating to follow: the Gaudreau contract and what to do with the Tkachuk situation. Both of those will in large part define the Treliving era for me at this point, and while the jury is still out on both, we should have a pretty good read fairly soon on how those two situations have been handled.