Speculation: Gorton’s first moves!

[Mr Mom]

John Davidson and Glen Sather both have talked about Gorton.
They both claim that he is a very methodical thinker. Patient and hardworking....

For this reason I'm assuming that his first moves will be to send players up/down etc.
To get better looks at them, evaluate etc....

Next, will come his hiring/firing as he slowly builds his scouting/analytics staff. I don't expect him to really fill this out until the off-season as people become available.
But, I do expect a couple of KEY hires asap.

Then between January and the trade deadline. I expect him to hire our GM.

 

[Tyson]

One of his biggest challenges has to be how to dump these insane dead weight contracts. You can't rebuild when you have several longterm deals that you can't unload.

We already have over 80 million tied up next year. That's crazy

 

[Whalers Fan]

All those poll choices and not one of them is "Hire a GM"?

 

[Frankenheimer]

How much dead salary are people willing to assume to get rid of contracts? We still have three years of Alzner somehow.

Since Weber’s retirement would be catastrophic for Nashville, I hope some mutually beneficial arrangement could be made with them.

 

[Mr Mom]

First move was the press conference.

Second move will be finding out how the habs have been making decisions for the last decade or two. "You mean you just yelled about stuff and then Bergevin did whatever he felt like?"

Upcoming moves:

1. Buy a book on foxholes to try to figure out what was going on the last decade.
2. Watch the cup run again to appreciate how good Danault, Weber, and Price were.
3. Learn French.
   
4. Tear hair that he wasn't brought in a year or two earlier.
   
5. Realize that Bergevin had no understanding of the salary cap. 84 million due to 12 players next year, with Romanov and Lehkonen due new contracts.
   
6. Realize that Bergevin hired to make sure the hirees would not replace him and not so that they would make good, informed hockey decisions.
7. Go on a firing spree.
   
8. Realize that Bergevin wouldn't hire guys who intimidated him intellectually, the way Barney and Big Bird do.
   
9. Revamp every facet of the habs operations. Replace many scouts, all remaining decision makers, Houle, etc. Hire people who don't necessarily have old boy hockey backgrounds. Ignore NHL coaches for now.
   
10. Detect and fire remaining yes men.
    
11. Book time at a relaxing spa away from nutzo media who can't believe he's firing their friends, not hiring them, and still hasn't hired Patrick Roy to dramatize the rebuilding years.
12. Ask Molson to buy TVA or RDS or at least induce them to hire one main host who isn't terrible and doesn't interrupt the people who actually have stuff to say to blather about Roy even though all the other analysts are wondering why he can't get off the topic and all viewers have changed the channel.
    
13. Buy several copies of "Really Basic Analytics for Dummies Who Don't Get Analytics, Simplified" for the people he hasn't already fired.
14. Hire the best GM he can find, not a yes man.
15. Watch GM hire Patrick Roy and make deals to trade high picks for declining veterans, while RDS and TVA throw massive party.
16. Fire GM.
17. Carefully watch over stable of prospects for several years until the team is actually good.
18. Change all NHL coaches.
    
19. Read Gazette, says team is OK but nothing like the teams Red Fisher covered back in the day.
    
20. Get fired and replaced by Patrick Roy who immediately fires everyone he hired, replaces them with the guys Bergevin had before plus some ex-media guys.
21. Watch habs trade prospects/young stars for declining veterans and miss the playoffs.
22. Watch TVA and RDS throw a massive year long party for new GM and blame team missing the playoffs on Gorton.
23. Drink.

Lmfao, there's some very funny stuff in there.
Thanks for the laugh!

 

[BozoTheClown]

How much dead salary are people willing to assume to get rid of contracts? We still have three years of Alzner somehow.

It’s 2 more years at 833k, which isn’t too bad.
The way I see it, is that Gorton has 3 to 5 years until we start seeing the results of some of the decisions that were made. By the start of 2026-2027, the team should be ready to start competing for the cup. At this point, all should be needed is an addition of depth, toughness, leadership…
Basically what Tampa Bay has been doing the last 5-7 years.

It will take time. Bergevin really did a number on this team.

 

[cphabs]

This is exactly what came to mind after the Gorton hiring. He is going to get a feel for each prospect and when it comes to Harris' case, he'll find out about his interest in playing for the team and make a quick decision about his future, rather than waiting until the last minute like Marc Bergevin would have done.

Well said.
We can’t afford to let prospects or players to simply “walk”

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

Wasn't it bringing up Dauphin and Schuenemann?

 

[Beaker]

Sell everybody and play the kids 20 mins / game

 

[HuGo Sham]

A small reset? Puke.

The habs just had a small reset this summer and look how successful they are now.

We are drafting top 5 this season which might means a top prospect. This isn't enough. We are 2 elite forward, 1 elite dman and a solid goaltender rookie prospect away from being set, aka, we don't have a competitive core moving forward. A small reset ain't gonna help up reach that goal unless we aquire 2 other top pick this season, which won't happen.

We will be tight on the cap next season if we don't move some big contracts, which means no big UFA signing. The big contract player all have low value right now so it will be next to impossible to improve throught trade, and we don't have valuable prospect (talking about grade A) to sweeten the deal and get a big name.

A small reset will just make this team spin its wheel for another 5 years. We might get lucky and draft well with the high pick we will get just from being bad in the next 2-3 seasons, but aquiring more 1st and 2nd round pick by dropping some big contract would increase our chances of getting those valuable prospect which could help us build a competitive core.

Price and Weber are done, the window is closed. Time for a new chapter, the foundation of this team is weak. A small reset is for competitive teams.

I agree. Caufield? Guhle? Primeau?

regardless, Gorten should find a way to get a second top 10 pick this year and try to find value in a young prospect like the pacioretty trade.

 

[Vachon23]

The waivers pick up win !

 

[Adam Michaels]

Called it:

Claim Kyle Clague off waivers.

 

[SwiftyHab]

Claim Kale Clague off waivers.

You called it

 

[Beer and Chips]

How about a new head physician, how old is that guy now?

 

[eklund the clown]

How about a new head physician, how old is that guy now?

Dr . Mulder is so old he needs a physician himself

 

[Scintillating10]

First move was not taking Petry in road trip. Petry definitely not in right frame of mind