Quote:
Originally Posted by FanIn80
Like anything else, I think there needs to be a clear goal as well as a clear and measurable plan to acheive that goal. There should also be a tangible way to assess both the goal and the plan.
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The issue with any goal, and plan, as desireable as that is, is that it never works out. Players want out, players don't pan out, players have a bad year, coaches don't deliver.
Three years ago the plan wasn't "just get in" - it was to compete hard with stars Gaudreau and Tkachuk, with Lindholm, Monahan, Backlund also being core forwards, Mangiapane, Dube coming up and various depth guys filling in. With Rasmus, Hanifin, Valimaki, Kylington as core D. So they acquire the best UFA goalie and defensive Dman available. But Gaudreau has a crap year, Monahan slides, Markstrom comes back too early from injury, they play badly in the bubble and they don't feast on Ottawa during their "we can't win" phase.
The next year things go better and they continue to add depth at all positions, and finish first in the division only to crumble in round two. So that's a setback. I'm sure the goal remained the same. Until...
Gaudreau and Tkachuk both want out. The rest of the team is still there so Treliving is pretty much obliged to keep pushing to win and they replace Gaudreau with Huberdeau, sell Monahan to get Kadri and add Weegar. Seems like a slight setback but they are still operating in the plan. But players had a bad year. The coach made it worse.
There seems to be a goal. People just don't like it. And they don't recognize that GMs have to be flexible and adapt to things on the fly all the time. Gaudreau not signing at the last minute, Tkachuk playing a pretty unique game himself at contract time, Kylington needing a year off. And through all that they'd have had a decent year with better results in goal. Not a championship year but you might have called it a bump in the road. And it still might just be that.