Gunnar Staal
Registered User
- Mar 17, 2004
- 1,151
- 2
I’m usually a lurker on these boards, but considering this is what could be another year in a long string of now predictable post-season collapses, I’ve been thinking about something. I know the media and most fans are getting on Bylsma and calling for his termination (for correct and obvious reasons), but I don’t know why more people aren’t critical of Shero’s performance as of late; More specifically, the past year. I used to be a person who respected what Shero did: He put together teams that had grit and tenacity to compliment the high-end skill, he made smart moves that helped the short- and long-term future of the club and his moves helped to bring a cup to the city once again.
But over this past year my opinion of him has soured significantly. I now openly question most personnel moves and trades anymore as they aren’t done in the spirit of improving the team but to keep the team in a sort of “cocoon” where it can continue to coast on high-end talent, but not do enough to beat the cream of the crop. Look at these moves and tell me this is what a great GM does:
- Retains Dan Bylsma and entire coaching staff after being tactically spanked by Boston (EDIT: Except Gilles Meloche)
- Gives Fleury a vote of confidence after a spectacular postseason meltdown for the second year in a row
- Resigns Craig Adams to a two-year deal (why?)
- Signs Kris Letang to massive seven-year deal that will pay him $7 million per season starting next year (if he played at his best more consistently, I’d agree with this, but more often than not this year he’s looked like Marc-Andre Bergeron. Scary thought)
- Resigns Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis to four-year deals worth $3.5-$4 million per year (IMO the problem wasn’t signing one or the other. The problem was signing both, especially since I knew Dupuis was going to get vastly overpaid in the free agent market)
- Signs Rob Scuderi to four-year deal as our biggest free agent move of the year in a year where the salary cap goes down (erm… why? Don’t get me wrong, I liked Scuderi, but four years for a defenseman in his mid-30’s when your draft philosophy has been to draft puck-moving defensemen?)
- Replaces Matt Cooke with Matt D’Agostini
- Replaces Tyler Kennedy with Chuck Kobasew (Kennedy was past his expiration date here, but his replacement is a washed-up player?)
- The minor leagues are stocked with forwards with minimal upside like Ebbett, Conner, and Kostopoulos
- The opening day roster still featured Tanner Glass (why?)
As a result, I’m not surprised that the team is ending up like this. Even during the months when they were doing well, I didn’t see a team that could win the cup. All I saw was a team that was coasting on high-end talent, not a team with any sort of structure, depth, or prowess. And that’s not counting the effects that the season and personnel decisions had on the team this year:
- Oversee a majority of your top prospects and puck-moving defensemen at the AHL and ECHL level decrease in trade value (which was the main reason why you drafted so many of them. Who increased in trade value besides Olli Maataa this season: Samuelsson? Harrington? Perhaps I don’t know trade values well enough, but keeping players stuck at the AHL level when they may be ready for the NHL doesn’t exactly increase trade value)
- Witness possible stagnated development of Simon Despres, Beau Bennett and Robert Bortuzzo (Bennett was more due to injuries, but he doesn’t seem to me like a guy who’s truly ready yet. Bortuzzo was more due to waivers, but being a frequent healthy scratch doesn’t help his development. Despres just got jobbed this year)
- The team’s most promising forward prospect in the minor leagues is Brian Gibbons (nothing against Gibbons, but really?)
- Team has the worst bottom-six depth and grit since 2005/06 (I think we all harken back to the days of Rico Fata, Shane Endicott and Lasse Pirjeta. Gag.)
- The short-term answer for our bottom-six woes is a washed-up Taylor Pyatt
- Craig Adams and Tanner Glass are glorified as elite, penalty-killing defensive forwards (hence they’re always out there when the Pens are trying to protect a lead or are shorthanded)
- The only full-time players on the roster that was developed under the Shero and Bylsma tenure are Maataa and Joe Vitale (Bort and Despres were frequently healthy scratches so they really don’t count)
- Shero’s attempted big splash at the trade deadline is trying to acquire Ryan Kesler (and how does that make sense, exactly? So you put him on the third line to replace Sutter and give him the likes of Glass, Ebbett and Conner in which he hopefully becomes Jordan Staal? Thank god this didn’t go through)
- When this doesn’t go through, he does what he should’ve done anyway and decides to acquire bottom six depth (Goc and Stempniak were good pickups. The price for Goc may have been a tad too high, IMO, but I’ll definitely take that over the price we would’ve paid for Kesler)
It’s almost as if Shero has remained stubbornly loyal to a team that won the Stanley Cup in 2009 instead of trying to adapt. He continues to trade away valuable long-term pieces like high draft picks for rentals in the hopes that they will win yet another cup, but all that is going to do is destroy the team’s long-term sustainability. Do you see Boston, Chicago or Los Angeles throw away their first and second round picks year after year to try and win another cup? Nope. They have superior depth, but they seem to be smarter about it, only acquiring pieces when the price is right. Chicago’s big “move” was trading for Kris Versteeg for bottom six depth. Los Angeles got Gaborik, but they didn’t trade a first round pick for him. Boston mostly got depth in the form of Meszaros.
I don’t think Shero is going to get fired this season, since he still has his panic button in play (firing Bylsma), but this offseason is going to be very telling as to which Shero the Pens are going to get moving forward: The Shero from 2006-2009 or the Shero that has remained overly loyal to a team that won the cup five years ago.
But over this past year my opinion of him has soured significantly. I now openly question most personnel moves and trades anymore as they aren’t done in the spirit of improving the team but to keep the team in a sort of “cocoon” where it can continue to coast on high-end talent, but not do enough to beat the cream of the crop. Look at these moves and tell me this is what a great GM does:
- Retains Dan Bylsma and entire coaching staff after being tactically spanked by Boston (EDIT: Except Gilles Meloche)
- Gives Fleury a vote of confidence after a spectacular postseason meltdown for the second year in a row
- Resigns Craig Adams to a two-year deal (why?)
- Signs Kris Letang to massive seven-year deal that will pay him $7 million per season starting next year (if he played at his best more consistently, I’d agree with this, but more often than not this year he’s looked like Marc-Andre Bergeron. Scary thought)
- Resigns Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis to four-year deals worth $3.5-$4 million per year (IMO the problem wasn’t signing one or the other. The problem was signing both, especially since I knew Dupuis was going to get vastly overpaid in the free agent market)
- Signs Rob Scuderi to four-year deal as our biggest free agent move of the year in a year where the salary cap goes down (erm… why? Don’t get me wrong, I liked Scuderi, but four years for a defenseman in his mid-30’s when your draft philosophy has been to draft puck-moving defensemen?)
- Replaces Matt Cooke with Matt D’Agostini
- Replaces Tyler Kennedy with Chuck Kobasew (Kennedy was past his expiration date here, but his replacement is a washed-up player?)
- The minor leagues are stocked with forwards with minimal upside like Ebbett, Conner, and Kostopoulos
- The opening day roster still featured Tanner Glass (why?)
As a result, I’m not surprised that the team is ending up like this. Even during the months when they were doing well, I didn’t see a team that could win the cup. All I saw was a team that was coasting on high-end talent, not a team with any sort of structure, depth, or prowess. And that’s not counting the effects that the season and personnel decisions had on the team this year:
- Oversee a majority of your top prospects and puck-moving defensemen at the AHL and ECHL level decrease in trade value (which was the main reason why you drafted so many of them. Who increased in trade value besides Olli Maataa this season: Samuelsson? Harrington? Perhaps I don’t know trade values well enough, but keeping players stuck at the AHL level when they may be ready for the NHL doesn’t exactly increase trade value)
- Witness possible stagnated development of Simon Despres, Beau Bennett and Robert Bortuzzo (Bennett was more due to injuries, but he doesn’t seem to me like a guy who’s truly ready yet. Bortuzzo was more due to waivers, but being a frequent healthy scratch doesn’t help his development. Despres just got jobbed this year)
- The team’s most promising forward prospect in the minor leagues is Brian Gibbons (nothing against Gibbons, but really?)
- Team has the worst bottom-six depth and grit since 2005/06 (I think we all harken back to the days of Rico Fata, Shane Endicott and Lasse Pirjeta. Gag.)
- The short-term answer for our bottom-six woes is a washed-up Taylor Pyatt
- Craig Adams and Tanner Glass are glorified as elite, penalty-killing defensive forwards (hence they’re always out there when the Pens are trying to protect a lead or are shorthanded)
- The only full-time players on the roster that was developed under the Shero and Bylsma tenure are Maataa and Joe Vitale (Bort and Despres were frequently healthy scratches so they really don’t count)
- Shero’s attempted big splash at the trade deadline is trying to acquire Ryan Kesler (and how does that make sense, exactly? So you put him on the third line to replace Sutter and give him the likes of Glass, Ebbett and Conner in which he hopefully becomes Jordan Staal? Thank god this didn’t go through)
- When this doesn’t go through, he does what he should’ve done anyway and decides to acquire bottom six depth (Goc and Stempniak were good pickups. The price for Goc may have been a tad too high, IMO, but I’ll definitely take that over the price we would’ve paid for Kesler)
It’s almost as if Shero has remained stubbornly loyal to a team that won the Stanley Cup in 2009 instead of trying to adapt. He continues to trade away valuable long-term pieces like high draft picks for rentals in the hopes that they will win yet another cup, but all that is going to do is destroy the team’s long-term sustainability. Do you see Boston, Chicago or Los Angeles throw away their first and second round picks year after year to try and win another cup? Nope. They have superior depth, but they seem to be smarter about it, only acquiring pieces when the price is right. Chicago’s big “move” was trading for Kris Versteeg for bottom six depth. Los Angeles got Gaborik, but they didn’t trade a first round pick for him. Boston mostly got depth in the form of Meszaros.
I don’t think Shero is going to get fired this season, since he still has his panic button in play (firing Bylsma), but this offseason is going to be very telling as to which Shero the Pens are going to get moving forward: The Shero from 2006-2009 or the Shero that has remained overly loyal to a team that won the cup five years ago.
