Quote:
Originally Posted by J pold
Never understood this - he's been a very mediocre GM since arriving in Calgary and the product on the ice (both coaches players) are a reflection of that. He gets a huge pass on this board and from the media for a remarkably average GM.
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Very mediocre?
Like, bud... I
super disagree.
Johnny Gaudreau is third in scoring and signed for five more seasons including this one for an amazingly-low cap value. Monahan is signed for six more.
He managed to swindle Don Sweeney out of Dougie Hamilton.
He's made some
very savvy UFA signings, like Michael Frolik, Kris Versteeg, Michael Stone, and Jaromir Jagr.
He brought up Mark Jankowski and Brett Kulak at the perfect time.
He traded for Mike Smith, easily the second-best Flames goalie of the century. He signed Chad Johnson, easily one of the Flames' best backups of the century.
Even his mistakes, like trading for Brian Elliott or signing Troy Brouwer, have been more on the players than the GM. Elliott was a proven, multiple All-Star calibre goalie in St. Louis who was maddeningly inconsistent here. Brouwer was a consistent 20/40 player before seemingly falling off a cliff two months into his tenure here.
Trading for Travis Hamonic looks like it could be a tricky deal to gauge for now, but he's adjusting to a new team -- remember how much we hated Hamilton after his first half-season here?
Hiring Gulutzan was a very divisive move and continues to be to this day. Many people hate it, many others do not. I won't be able to convince anyone that it was a good idea.
