I think you hit on a good point here--my concern is that there's a serious disconnect between the scouting department and the front office. Pracey and his staff are top-notch IMO. They're the ones who told Sherman that John Mitchell would be a safe bet, and that Parenteau would be a good fit here.
My problem is that this team drafts enigmatic talents like Stewart and Wolski, and then is all shocked when that talent ends up being enigmatic. Am I mad the Avs traded Wolski? No, but with Stewart it was like they got all pissed off because he reportedly partied a little while recovering from a major injury. Oh well...these are young professional athletes seeing a lot of money, sometimes they're going to act up. So long as they don't pull the kinds of shenanigans you see in the NFL/NBA, I don't see a problem with it.
Bottom line, if you don't want the enigmatic guys, don't draft them. Just do what Nashville does and get gritty lunch pailers over and over again...of course Nashville is one of the worst offensive teams in the league because of that drafting strategy. A better idea would be to just accept the fact that it's okay to have a Stewart in your lineup so long as you have guys like Landy and Dutchy who don't ever take shifts off.
There's a lot wrong with this post.
First of all, Rick Pracey and Allan Hepple are in charge of AMATEUR scouting and not PRO scouting. So those wouldn't be the guys giving the feedback on Mitchell and Parenteau, it would be guys like Garth Joy and Terry Martin.
Second of all, it is BECAUSE the team drafted 'enigmatic talent' in the past that they CHANGED their drafting philosophy to 'talent, compete level and skill' instead of maybe just overall talent. This happened AFTER the 2008 draft (Gaunce) because at that time, Ted Hampson had just been brought in and he moved on shortly thereafter. It's been Pracey & Co. ever since. Both Wolski (2004) and Stewart (2006) were part of the old regime.
Letting O'Reilly sit to "stick it" to him and his dad sounds exactly like some bush league move this ownership would pull.
Seriously, call me naive if you want but if that's the driving motivation of our ownership/management, we are in deep ****.
No, YOU'RE right...we're really going somewhere this season!! Completely healthy, we had a slim chance of making the playoffs this year but yeah, let's trade a bunch of PICKS for immediate help so we can finish 18th!!! That's the way you remain a crappy team forever.
With the way some of you are complaining, I think you might actually be up for that.
Past precedent suggests that's exactly what they do.
What blows me away is that Lacroix is a former agent. He'd be FURIOUS if he were still an agent and a GM offered his client less than they wanted, refused to engage in good faith negotiations, and stopped returning calls when said offer was rejected.
The Avs groomed this kid for three years and just last year got a true sign of just how good he can be...and now they're willing to walk away based on principle. What a ****ing joke this organization has become.
Just stop it. Everyone knows it's a fair offer. Why should the Avs pay more than what's FAIR?
Go through the list in the past 25 years of players who held out for more money and show me which ones were actually RIGHT in doing so??? Whether it's that dirtbag YASHIN or that fat ass Keith Tkachuk, these players showed time and again that in the end, they were in fact LOSERS. They were 'team-first' POSERS only concerned about THEIR bottom line and they never won anything either.
Seriously, has there really been even ONE holdout where it's like "oh yeah, you were holding out and, in the end, YOU were right, you deserved much more"...has that EVER happened??
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