I really liked Tree as our GM. I just didn't like his coaching hires and his inability to make tough decisions ahead of time.
I was typing out this long paragraph about how he's probably learned a lesson from losing Gaudreau, but as I was typing it started to occur to me... what lesson would he learn from that?
It was a pretty unique situation. Johnny had one of his worst seasons the year before his final year. In spite of that, his team was probably trying to negotiate for "what he is/can/will be" rather than what he was that season. Tree, on the other hand, was probably trying to talk the numbers down a bit based on that season (maybe that's the lesson?). I remember something about Johnny not wanting to negotiate once the season started, too, so what was Brad supposed to do once the season started and Johnny's entire line took off for what was going to be career seasons for all three of them?
I guess his options with a guy who wasn't going to negotiate anything until after the season ended was to either go into the playoffs with him and risk losing him... or risk being the GM who traded a top-five player in the league (at the time) during a career season a month before the start of the playoffs, only to watch him win the Cup with someone else (remember, I said "risk this happening" not "that's what would have happened").
Like, even if you look at it from the perspective of "what's best for the team," we were one of the favourites to win the Cup that season. Is it best to try to win that Cup and maybe lose Johnny, or skewer your odds dramatically and hope it works out?
|