JayB deal was fine. Even Iggy trade was ok considering.
Problem was they drafted garbage. That's more on Button than anything.
How could Button have done better?
The late 2013 first round talent was REALLY bad. Look at what was drafted in that range. Picks 15 to 40 are abysmal in comparison to other drafts. And yet, we have 4 of those players!
- Lazar
- Shinkaruk
- Klimchuk*
- Poirier*
The remainder are just barely getting into the league now. Most of them struggling to hold a consistent place on an NHL roster. Button cannot make something out of nothing.
Second, Button's ability to scout IMO isn't problematic. He and his team scout players, then rank attributes. Most of what I've seen is that the GM outlines requirements on players, and then the scouts lists are reorganized based on different weighting.
Sutter seemingly drafted based on the following criteria: Tall > Strong > Fast
Feaster got rid of Sutter's failures and seemingly drafted based on the following criteria: Skill > IQ > Speed
Treliving seemingly drafts based on: IQ > Skill > Character
If you look closely, each year's draft has a theme that is chosen by the GM. Button has been able to do quite well in the later rounds. Another way to look at it is like this, Button doesn't randomly submit a "BPA" name when our pick comes up. The GM walks up and say, "Hey, I want to draft a fridge. Got a name for me?" and Button offers his selection based on that criteria. Or "Hey, I want a swing for the fences skill pick or a goalie." he offers a name.
We know the lists differ significantly from GM to GM, but also from organization to organization. This is known because we know Button/Feaster tried to hide their interest in Kucherov and Gaudreau. There's articles about how they didn't even internally rank them and merely kept them as wild cards. Read the article below.
Now keep in mind, when Sutter signed as GM, our scouting was woefully bad due to it being horribly under developed. Barely any resources were put into scouting. Sutter's drafting wasn't great, but he knew he needed to improve scouting. IIRC he doubled scouting before he left, but most of the scouting was all in the WHL. Feaster added more scouts, but also focused on overseas as well as college.
Button has also done reasonably well with seasons where Sutter traded away all the picks as well as the Dougie Hamilton year where Treliving did the same. Now, Treliving has moved out many, many picks. Button has an interesting job in front of him. I really hope Treliving gives Button more freedom.
No I am not related to Button. These articles do offer insight into Button's strategy and also leans credence to the idea that the GM can really mess with player ranking.
https://flamesnation.ca/2012/05/15/the-curious-case-of-tod-button/
http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports...ohnny+Gaudreau+2011+draft/10203624/story.html
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/the-draft-day-story-of-johnny-gaudreau/