Originally Posted by NilssonistheReal14
Lots of criticism of Brad here, without really knowing or looking at facts. So, lets put ourselves in his shoes knowing the facts?
Lets say you are evaluating trades for Tkachuk. Your very clear directive from your boss is we ARE NOT rebuilding. Which offer do you accept? the rebuild one? or, the keep the trying to win course?
Lets say, Gaudreau is coming off consecutive seasons where he had 49 pts in 58 games and 59 pts in 70 games. He is asking for $8.5m x 8 extension. Do you sign that? Hindsight is awesome isnt it.
Lets say, your other star player, Tkachuk handcuffs you by telling you I will only sign a contract that takes him to free agency. You are kinda stuck, arent you? he actually did Treliving a solid by telling him he won't resign a year in advance. And, yea, his reason for not resigning was "whats the plan with Darryl?" oh, ok, I am not resigning.
Lets say, after one year of Ward, your boss goes out, calls up his old buddy and says, hey you want to come take this job? And, then calls you up and tells you "hey, we are hiring this old friend of mine. can you get rid of your guy please".
Ya, granted, his previous coach hires were not awesome. Some unfortunate circumstances in Peters. But, maybe he was given a budget and those were the best he could get?
I would say, given a mandate from ownership that we will not rebuild, having star players who dont want to play for a coach given to you by the owners, being told by the coach that these are the kind of guys I want, go get them, oh and these older guys? these are who I am going to play, so resign them. Well, I think we have to look at all that. And, ask yourself, would you have done any better? Not likely.
And, then, after nine years of having to sell players on coming to a country with a higher tax rate, a city with an old crappy arena, where you still have to park outside, and by the way, we have a coach who our star players didnt want to play for, and, really, it is getting harder and harder for me to try to sell you on coming here? Why would you want to? Well, the only thing I can really say is, we are close to the mountains, which, by the way, our standard player contract states you can not ski or snowboard in season, so... ya, well at least its a nice view. Wouldnt you kind of get tired of it to? And, you know you have built up a good reputation in the industry? And, there are all these other teams who may want to hire you? And, ones where selling players on coming to play with your team is so much easier, and the owner will give me some leeway. and, at least I have now earned that right to have the leeway. Wouldnt you want out too?
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