Bass Destruction wrote: I would like to start off by retracting the "superstar GMs" comment. It was unfair, and I was oversimplifying while also putting words in your mouth... errr... words in your fingers???
You say agility refers to adapting to changing environments. Well Murray's changing environment had to do with signing the few assets he had available (in Heater and Spezza) and retool the team. I agree with you that it will take more than tweaking the roster to be successful. However, time is what is needed. Patience is a virtue, and I believe that is what the Sens will need, with the maturing of Wiercioch, Karlsson, Elliott, and future prospects.
But the 'changing environment' for Shero and Tallon were different than that of Murray. They were both starting with pretty clean slates. Both had prospects who were in development, but neither had franchise players on hand. They could both design their teams from scratch, trade off what they didn't like, add what they wanted, and face minimal public outcry, as their teams had struggle in the recent past.
This was the polar opposite to the situation Bryan Murray was in. He inherited a team that had just some out of the finals, and had to face huge decisions. He hired poor coaches, and i'm not defending him for that, in my opinion, that has by far been his weakest quality. He was in a situation where his team had jsut been successful, and any major movements would fall under great scrutiny and public outcry. So he did what people expected, and what seemed to be the best course of action, one I still defend and believe was best, re-signed Heatley and Spezza. They both had paltry years, but next season is a new season, and I believe they will rebound.
These signings, along with the signing of Fisher (which i felt was about half a million too much) and Alfie's generosity has put a bit of a stranglehold on the our cap, locking up 23 of the 53 million. One could argue that Bryan Murray was responsible for the Gerber signing, as Gerber was his former goalie in Anaheim, however, with free agent signings, the ultimate say belongs to the GM. Muckler negotiated the contract and signed him. It is much more difficult to be agile, and be able to make moves when you are close against the cap. Obviously, the more room you have, the easier it is to be agile, and the less risky moves become.
But to get back to the subject of a 'few tweaks' in order to be competitive, i mostly agree with you that this is not accurate. I say mostly because, I agree with your assessment that in order to be Cup contenders next year, much more than a few tweaks is needed. Not quite an entire overhaul (not that that's what you said) but a couple of major moves would be required. However, I would say if e are willing to be patient, then a with a few tweaks, and a couple of years, I do believe we will be in a position to be Cup contenders.
From there we can enter a whole new argument on Faith. But, I would really prefer we didn't.
BD, I think you hit on some very key points.
It easy to be critical of Bryan Murray and to debate the wisdom of his decisions, but of course we have a very limited access to information about the factors behind those decisions.
So let's look at things as they are, and go from there.
You mentioned Dale Tallon and the Khabibulin contract. This is an EXCELLENT example of the kind of challenge a GM faces nowadays.
When Tallon came to Chicago, the Blackhawks were a mess.
He signed Khabby and Adrian Aucoin (who is from Ottawa BTW) as a foundation based on investing heavily in goaltending and defense.
At the time, Nik had just won a Cup. Good, logical decision.
Aucoin was a consistent, solid defenseman with excellent offensive numbers who was named Captain of the Hawks. Again, good logical decision.
Both signings proved to deliver less than expected. Aucoin was injured so much he finally had to be unloaded to Calgary for Andrei Zyuzin (!)and Steve Marr (!!). On the face of it, a disaster.
The Bulin Wall, with a shaky defense in front of him, put up mediocre numbers. So this didn't look good.
Going into last season, Tallon decided he would cover his bets--as Nik was in the last year of his contract--by signing Cristobal Huet away from Washington, who had solid credentials and good, if not great playoff performance.
Cap issues, however, meant he now had to try to move Nik, and when he got no takers, he was obliged to waive him after a deal to loan him to the KHL went south.
Again, no takers.
Then Khabibulin comes back and has a stellar year as the Hawks surge.
The Aucoin deal, while it didn't work out, bought Tallon some time until the young defense was ready.
Tallon systematically weeded out the players who didn't fit his plan--not without difficulty. Drafting well--and fortunately--helped. Witness Toews, Barker, Seabrook, Kane, Bolland, Byfuglien..the Blackhawks also have an excellent pipeline of prospects. And smart trades...Sharp, Versteeg, Eager, Walker...
Martin Havlat looked like a bust until he recovered from his injuries to become the Hawks' scoring leader.
The Bryan Campbell signing has been questioned...but Campbell has proven to be that added dimension to the Hawks' attack that helps all the others to flourish.
At the trade deadline he moved James Wisniewski to the Ducks for Sammy Pahlsson. A brilliant move, as it not only solved the Hawks' problems at center but opened up a spot for the very talented Nik Hjalmarsson who is already a young Kronwall.
The coaching of Denis Savard and Joel Quenneville has been instrumental. The work of Rick Dudley, Stan Bowman and Scotty Bowman has been key.
The Hawks are being built using elements of the Detroit model...and I can say objectively that with their talent, they may well become the powerhouse that the Wings are now, in the future.
But nothing is guaranteed.
So, I've abbreviated this somewhat, but the point is that it is EXTREMELY difficult to judge a GM's performance from a fan's perspective.
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