HTFN
Registered User
- Feb 8, 2009
- 12,305
- 10,999
I’ve been convinced that Eichel probably wasn’t a viable option. Good posts @Jags and @HTFN . Consider my mind changed on the matter.
Just for clarity I’m not calling for MacLellan’s head or anything. But I think he could have been more aggressive in making substantial changes to the core. I think they could have sold high on Kuznetsov after 2022. I think their current situation with Mantha was foreseeable if they looked a bit harder at his personality and Laviolette’s.
It’s impossible to know what moves were available for sure, but as mentioned earlier it is a results based business. We don’t give players awards for effort. Shouldn’t we be just as critical of management?
Although I think there is such thing as rewarding players for effort, both regular work effort (which applies less to GMs) but also process related effort. I used Pittsburgh as a comparison earlier but both teams have had virtually identical results lately, but GMBM didn't trade an entire cabinet of picks and prospects to sell out over the last few years and fix mistakes. So results matter, but process matters too.
Honestly the simplest way to put it might be a baseball metaphor. Two guys can both go 2 for 10, but I trust the guy who keeps barreling balls into fielded territory over the guy with the high whiff rate. There's batting average and expected batting average, and that's all down to the process over results. If you can look at a move and say "yeah that's a good idea more times than not" it's probably still a good move.
Sometimes you think you hit a home run and get caught out anyway, results rarely stay perfect, analyzing the process matters a little too.