A Comprehensive Analysis of Craig MacTavish as GM

[Burnt Biscuits]

O.K. there has been a lot of talk on whether or not MacTavish has actually done a good job for us, most fans on this board are very basic in their analysis and I feel would change their opinion entirely if the team was successful. I think he has to be viewed with greater detail as to whether his individual moves were for the good or the detriment of the organization as a whole. So a GM is essentially responsible for the acquisition of the players that compose the team and the hirings and firings of the coaching and the support staff that surround the team, he also has oversight over the scouting departments, and is responsible for how he represents our club across the league in terms of our public image.

I am breaking up his duties and evaluating individually his trading history, his player signings, his choices on the coaches and support staff for the club, and then just a miscellaneous accounting for things that should be accounted for but don't fit neatly elsewhere. I won't be getting into amateur scouting he does have a responsibility for who the staff is comprised of, but he obviously can't get around enough to view all the players and say who we should or shouldn't pick; I see our amateur scouting staff being pretty middle of the row, but their are enough threads that have been committed to debating that on our forums so amateur scouting arguments are probably better settled in an old thread.

I will be using a scoring system to determine the relative harm or benefit of the decisions he has made, I'm fully aware that the limitations of the point system I am applying might not accurately represent the overall organizational effect of a move e.g. one steal like nabbing Chara and 2nd overall (Spezza) for Yashin in a trade has far more positive impact then 7 poor minor moves, but I needed some means to account for the moves and decisions he has made.

Scoring system is as follows:
+5= Magnificent move
+4= Very good
+3= Good
+2= Beneficial
+1= Mildly Beneficial
0= Neutral
-1= Mildly Harmful
-2= Harmful
-3= Bad
-4= Very Bad
-5= Horrifically Bad

Fair warning these posts will be massively long and not for the faint at heart.

Click to read more...

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

Craig MacTavish Trade History:

Trade 1
To: Sam Gagner

To: Teddy Purcell

Rating=0

Reasoning: It is too soon to tell who won the trade, it seems pretty lateral at the moment.

Trade 2
To: 2015 5th round pick

To: Nikita Nikitin

Rating=+2

Reasoning: Low cost to acquire negotiating rights for someone who can have a meaningful positive impact on our defense. I will address the actual contract we signed him to later on. It was also a no risk acquisition in terms of the draft pick cause we only had to give up the pick if we signed him, unlike most teams that pay upfront and take the risk themselves.

Trade 3:
To: Ales Hemsky

To: 2014 5th round pick & 2015 3rd round pick

Rating=0

Reasoning: It wasn't an ideal return for someone the calibre of Hemsky, but it was definitely a buyers market when we traded him. I feel the brunt of the blame for not getting a good return for him was due to Tambellini not trading him during his tenure when his value was higher.

Trade 4:
To: Nick Schultz

To: 2014 5th round pick

Rating= +1

Reasoning: It's a low pick for a garbage player, better then nothing.

Trade 5:
To: 2014 5th round pick & 2015 3rd round pick

To: Viktor Fasth

Rating= +2

Reasoning: We got a quality goaltender for peanuts, we get better goaltending depth then we had in the 2013/14 season which plagued us and while he's not signed for long we get a first hand viewing and get to determine if we want to keep him.

Trade 6:
To: Ilya Bryzgalov

To: 2014 4th round pick

Rating= +2

Reasoning: What's not to like, we patch up our weak goaltending for a few months and then just trade him for a free draft pick later on. It's like walking down the street and seeing money lying on the ground.

Trade 7:
To: Teemu Hartikainen & Cam Abney

To: Mark Fraser

Rating=-1

Reasoning: We traded a decent prospect and a draft bust for a defenseman who really didn't help us in any meaningful way, it didn't come at a high cost, but it was a waste of resources.

Trade 8:
To: Ryan Martindale & Derek Nesbitt

To: Steve Pinizzotto & Jack Combs

Rating=+1

Reasoning: We moved out a struggling prospect who we were ready to give up on plus spare change for a good depth option for the big squad and spare change. Pinizzotto helps address an organizational weakness in grit and toughness a solid small depth acquisition that has a realistic chance at getting some playing time.

Trade 9:
To: 2014 3rd round pick

To: Ben Scrivens

Rating=+3

Reasoning: Very low cost to acquire the guy who has the inside track to be our #1 goaltender, he played phenomally for us last year. 3 bad games to open the season hasn't undone all the good I've seen from him last year, even if he falters this year it was still a good pick-up for the cost my review would just be less of a glowing endorsement.

Trade 10:

To: Devan Dubnyk

To: Matt Hendricks

Rating=+2

Reasoning: We rid ourselves of our failed starting goaltender who lost any semblance of confidence for a pretty decent, but slightly overpaid role player who is a benefit to us both in the dressing room and off the ice.

Trade 11:
To: Linus Omark

To: 2014 conditional 6th round pick

Rating=0

Reasoning:The condition on the pick was never met, so we didn't get anything for him, but he didn't have any trade value at the time so no real loss. There was a point in time I believe he did have trade value, but that would of been on Tambellini's watch and we didn't trade him then.

Trade 12:
To: Ladislav Smid & Olivier Roy

To: Roman Horak & Laurent Brossoit

Rating=-2

Reasoning: I think we left value on the table in this trade and I'm guessing we could of got a better return elsewhere. Smid was not impressive in his stint in Calgary so our desire to move him was well founded, but the return just wasn't that impressive and while we retained Horak's rights the fact he signed in the KHL makes it look a bit worse. How this trade turns out will largely depend on how Brossoit turns out, so we'll have to wait and see.

Trade 13:

To Sharks: Mike Brown

To Edmonton: 2014 4th round pick

Rating=+1

Reasoning: Mike Brown was well liked in the room, but not much of a hockey player we were essentially able to reverse what Tambellini paid to acquire him in the first place. A perfectly decent return for a player we didn't need anymore.

Trade 14:

To Blues: Magnus Paajarvi & 2014 2nd round pick

To Oilers: David Perron

Rating= +4

Reasoning: We managed to parlay a highly thought of prospect who MacT recognized as being overvalued + a 2nd round pick into a roughly 60 point winger who is capable of scoring 30 goals on a good contract. It was a great trade from a value perspective and Perron brought elements that were lacking to the team and did his darnedest to make last year suck a little less.

Trade 15:

To Sharks: Kyle Bigos

To Oilers: Lee Moffie

Rating=0

Reasoning:Two prospects no one cares about, a nothing deal.

Trade 16:

To Stars: Shawn Horcoff

To Oilers: Philip Larsen & 2016 7th round pick

Rating=+4

Reasoning: Just being able to get rid of Shawn Horcoff's contract without cap retention was a big win, it immediately freed up cap space to give us added flexibility; by all rights we should of been forced to buy him out. We got a defenseman who was semi-useful for a year and a very low draft pick, but that's just a little added gravy on what was already a good deal for us.

Total Trade Rating= +19

(I hit an image limit so that's why I had to stop using logos for last few trades)

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

Craig MacTavish Contract Signing History:


Signing #1 Sept 13, 2014- Signed Greg Chase to a 3 year entry level contract
Rating= +1
Reasoning: Solid signing.

Signing #2 August 29, 2014- Signed Justin Schultz to 1 year $3.675 million contract
Rating=-2
Reasoning: MacT was quick to label him part of the core weakening his bargaining position. Paid him more then Petry which isn't really justified based on last year, I feel his contract would of been cheaper if we played hard ball, I think the flattery of him picking our team over every other team is still running high in the organization. His qualifier is also higher then I would like when it comes to re-sign him next year.

Signing #3 August 12, 2014- Signed Leon Draisaitl to 3 year entry level contract
Rating= 0
Reasoning: No brainer. Simply a formality

Signing #4 July 15, 2014- Re-signed Andrew Miller to 1 year contract
Rating= 0
Reasoning: Has looked decent in the AHL so far, I'm not so certain the contract spot couldn't be used better elsewhere.

Signing #5 July 15, 2014- Re-signed Curtis Hamilton to 1 year contract
Rating=-1
Reasoning:I think we re-signed him on the recommendation of Todd Nelson who likes him, but he has shown next to nothing in the AHL upto this point.

Signing #6 July 15, 2014- Re-signed Tyler Pitlick to 1 year contract
Rating= +1
Reasoning: Hasn't put up impressive numbers in the AHL, but plays a pro-style game and is a decent NHL call-up. I'm glad to have him back.

Signing #7 July 9, 2014- Re-signed Richard Bachman to 1 year contract
Rating= +1
Reasoning: Good AHL goaltender and a pretty decent #3 goaltender incase of emergency.

Signing #8 July 7, 2014- Re-signed Jeff Petry to 1 year contract at $3.075 million
Rating= -3
Reasoning:Signed a one year deal making him a UFA at the end of it, it all but sealed his fate as an Oiler. There is talk that he doesn't want to return as an Oiler, which is fine, but part of a GM's job is trying to sell and convince players to come back, if he doesn't want to come back part of that failing lies on MacT's shoulders. I wonder how much being treated like chopped liver in comparison to Justin Schultz has played a role in things ending up like this. Regardless we are likely to lose our best defender for peanuts which is never a good thing.

Signing #9 July 1, 2014 Signed Benoit Pouliot for 5 years $20 million contract
Rating=-1
Reasoning: I've liked the way he looked in camp and his analytics numbers are good, but he hasn't really proven enough to justify that contract and the fact he has bounced around so much should cause some apprehension. We'll have to wait to see how good or bad this contract really turns out.

Signing #10 July 1, 2014 Signed Mark Fayne for 4 years $14.5 million contract
Rating= +3
Reasoning: A solid addition to our defensive core at a very reasonable price considering he's a UFA.

Signing #11 July 1, 2014 Signed Luke Gazdic for 2 years $1.6 million contract
Rating= +1
Reasoning: Reasonable price to pay for a tough guy, represents a dying breed which might of made a 1 year deal a better idea, but he's good at punching faces and may come in handy on occasion.

Signing #12 July 1, 2014 Signed Keith Aulie for 1 yr at $800K
Rating= -1
Reasoning: Looked pretty bad in camp, but may swing his game around playing in the AHL, provides some depth on defense and it's only a 1 year deal so it's not too bad.

Signing #13 June 25, 2014 Signed Nikita Nikitin for 2 years to a $9 million contract
Rating= -1
Reasoning: The term is pretty short and he should improve our defense, but that's a lot of money for this player. Despite us trading for his rights I'd say we signed him to even more then what he would've gotten on the UFA market, although it's always a little hard to tell.

Signing #14 June 16, 2014 Signed Iiro Pakarinen for 2 years
Rating= +1
Reasoning:I like what I've seen from him so far and I could see him playing for us down the line.

Signing #15 May 12, 2014 Re-signed Anton Lander for 1 year
Rating= +1
Reasoning: Not a good camp, but he still represents center depth which we have in short supply, looks like he is starting to get his feet moving in the AHL, wouldn't surprise me if he is up with the big club getting a cup of coffee later on in the year.

Signing #16 May 8, 2014 Signed Bogdan Yakimov for 3 year entry level contract
Rating=+2
Reasoning:This should normally entail a +1 rating being just a normal signing of a good not great draft pick, but I gave it a little bit more I think this organization tends to try and push our European players to come over sooner then they normally should, but in watching Bogdan I actually think this was the perfect time for him to come over and get acclimated to the North American game.

Signing #17 April 22, 2014 Signed Dillon Simpson 3 year entry level contract
Rating= 0
Reasoning: No brainer signing.

Signing #18 March 31, 2014 Re-signed Marc Arcobello for 1 year
Rating= +2
Reasoning: He's playing well for us at the moment, almost makes me wish we signed him for longer. He still has to prove he can be a consistent contributor at the NHL level and with his versatility to move to diffferent spots in the line-up I could see him being with us for a while. While it may seem like a no brainer to retain a center when we are so lacking in depth there are teams that walk away from small players all the time even when they play well.

Signing #19 March 3, 2014 Re-signed Ben Scriven for 2 years for $4.6 million
Rating= +2
Reasoning: A very reasonable price to pay given the stats he put up last year playing for us, he doesn't have the track record to demand much more in the way of $$$ or term. It's good for both sides.

Signing #20 March 31, 2014 Signed Jordan Oesterle for 2 year entry level contract
Rating= +1
Reasoning: Has played well enough to justify his acquisition, his coach Andy Murray is pretty high on him claims it was smart pick up by us.

Signing #21 Dec 28, 2013 Signed Mitch Moroz to 3 year entry level contract
Rating= +1
Reasoning: Deserving of a contract.

Signing #22 Nov 8, 2013 Signed Ilya Bryzgalov to 1 year deal, cap hit of $2.26 million (mid-season signing)
Rating= +2
Reasoning: He was a much needed fix to our goaltending issues

Signing #23 Sept 19, 2013 Re-signed Nugent Hopkins to 6 year $36 million contract
Rating= +2
Reasoning:I think Nuge will earn his contract, a key part of the future locked up long-term is a good thing.

Signing #24 Aug 27, 2013 Signed Linus Omark
Rating= 0
Reasoning: He was a good AHL player for us and did contribute to depth, but he didn't really do anything for us that year.

Signing #25 July 25, 2013 Signed Darnell Nurse to 3 year entry level contract
Rating= 0
Reasoning: No brainer.

Signing #26 July 22, 2013 Re-signed Sam Gagner to 3 year $14.4 million contract
Rating= -3
Reasoning:Coming off a career year we gambled he would repeat, he did not, unfortunate injury to start the year and never got on track. It ended up being way too much money for someone with obvious defensive short-comings, the contract really hurt his trade value for us, I'm not sure if we could of gotten him much cheaper, but if we couldn't we probably would of been better off trading his rights instead of signing him.

Signing #27 July 19, 2013 Re-signed Taylor Fedun to 1 year contract
Rating= +1
Reasoning:Played 4 NHL games for us fairing pretty well, was a solid AHL player, and good depth.

Signing #28 July 18, 2013 Signed Denis Grebeshkov to 1 year contract at $1.5 million
Rating= -2
Reasoning: I would normally give a bad depth signing a -1, but Grebs was playing poorly in Russia by all accounts and he didn't exactly sign cheaply like most depth signings so I'm going to give it a little higher knock despite only being for 1 year.

Signing #29 July 6, 2013 Signed Richard Bachman to 1 year contract
Rating= +1
Reasoning: Same as before he's a good AHL goalie and a good option as a #3 goalie.

Signing #30 July 6, 2013 Signed Brad Hunt to 2 year contract
Rating= +1
Reasoning:Is a great AHL d-man and a good depth signing, guys don't hate on him because Eakins decided to play him over superior d-men, it's not his fault.

Signing #31 July 5, 2013 Signed Will Acton to 2 year $1.36 million contract
Rating= -2
Reasoning: He's fine as an AHL signing, but I think their are better options out there for an NHL depth center, I think it was pretty clear from the talk inside the organization they totally signed him with the intention of him getting some NHL games. I see that as a failure from within the organization and at some point I feel MacT should of stepped in and told Eakins to stop playing him.

Signing #32 July 5, 2013 Signed Ryan Hamilton 2 year $1.2 million contract
Rating= 0
Reasoning: He's a good veteran AHL player who showed some scoring ability, I think Eakins brought him in with the intention of him being a 13th forward, but he wasn't forced into the line-up so I don't really have a problem with the signing.

Signing #33 July 5, 2013 Signed Jesse Joensuu 2 year $1.9 million contract
Rating= -2
Reasoning: Played very poorly for us last year his analytics were pretty much the worst on the team of regulars. It was too much term for a player who hasn't proven anything.

Signing #34 July 5, 2013 Signed Boyd Gordon 3 year $9 million contract
Rating= +2
Reasoning: Not a bargain by any means, but he's a good defensive center and I shudder to think how weak we would be up the middle without him.

Signing #35 July 5, 2013 Signed Andrew Ference 4 year $13 million contract
Rating= -2
Reasoning: He's a leader and provides good character to the team, he was a good acquisition for us in terms of the player and the dollar amount isn't too bad considering he's a UFA, the issue is the contract term and the fact that he has a no movement clause. He's pretty old, but he's a fitness nut I figured he wouldn't start to fall off until the 3rd year of his deal, but he's showing signs of slow down now which is a bad sign for how he will fair later on.

Signing #36 July 5, 2013 Signed Jason Labarbera to 1 year contract
Rating= -3
Reasoning: We hired him to be our back-up goaltender and he failed about as badly as is humanly possible, he provided no relief to our starting goaltender when he struggled and played a role in our early 2013 season gong show

Signing #37 June 14, 2013 Re-signed Marc Arcobello for 1 year
Rating= +2
Reasoning: Discussed him before a key depth signing for us that played a key role on our team last year and in all likelyhood this year as well.

Signing #38 May 30, 2013 Signed Anton Belov for 1 year
Rating= +2
Reasoning: He wasn't amazing by any means, but did play a significant number of games and was pretty good at times for what was a very weak d-core. He wasn't handled well by Eakins and I'm thinking we might of been able to get more out of him with a different coach.

Signing #39 April 25, 2013 Signed Frans Tuohimaa to 2 year entry level contract
Rating= -2
Reasoning: He hasn't shown to be a very strong goalie, I'm sure there were higher quality goaltending prospects we could of signed as a free agent. Questionable signing

Signing #40 April 20, 2013 Sign Martin Gernat to 3 year entry level contract
Rating= 0
Reasoning: He showed enough to be worth signing, but his lack of progress is troubling

Total Contract Signing Rating= +5

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

Craig MacTavish Hiring/Firing/Re-assignments:

Hired David Pelletier
Rating= +2
Reasoning: Figure skating is very underrated for professional hockey league players, it tends to improve their balance and edgework, but a lot of players shy away from doing it because of the stigma surrounding it. We'll see how much he actually effects things, but he could pay dividends, it just takes one player like Jonathan Cheechoo who was deemed far too slow to play in the NHL turning out, to be a great addition.

Hired Sylvain Rodrigue
Rating= +1
Reasoning: He has a nice resume, but don't know a lot about him. He's an assistant to Chabot, I think adding another member to our goaltending personnel is an acknowledgement that it isn't where we want it to be as we haven't had much success developing or drafting goalies.

Re-hired Fredric Chabot
Rating= -2
Reasoning: I'm not aware of any better goaltending coaches that were readily available so I was somewhat supportive of re-hiring him; but after seeing Scrivens start off a bit slow not unlike Dubnyk last year and Scrivens glove positioning that Ranford tried to fix regressing back to before, I'm questioning if he is having a positive impact. He also apparently rendered the vote for us to draft Kevan Bouchard who hasn't been putting up good numbers so far when I thought we should of picked up Edgars Kulda there.

Promoted Bill Scott
Rating= +3
Reasoning: I'm a big fan of this move as the Barons GM he seemingly always signed the right veteran to an AHL contract when the team was struggling and they almost always instantaneously played much better with the new addition.

Promoted Rocky Thompson
Rating= -1
Reasoning: Great rapport with players and a good person, but I'm not sure if he is the best person to have up as the eye in the sky giving feedback downstairs, I figured an old coach with an absolute ton of experience would probably be best for this kind of role, and might have better insight into the strategies being used and adjustments to make.

Kelly Buchberger re-assigned
Rating= -1
Reasoning: Bucky is apparently the manager of player personnel now, I'm not sure what he is doing exactly so it's hard to tell if he is bad for the job or not, it sounds like he overviews our AHL and ECHL affiliates and basically serves as MacT's eyes and ears for our minor league teams. I'm not sure he is the best person for this role, but I'm sure the damage he can do in this role will be limited.

Hired Tyler Dellow
Rating= +3
Reasoning: Former HF board member and stat guru, I'm a fan of analytics and so it bears to reason that I'm a fan of the hiring. How much the organization will actually listen to him and heed his advice remains to be seen, but more smart people in the organizations braintrust is generally a good thing.

Hired Joel Schneider
Rating= 0
Reasoning: Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach, I know nothing about him so I have no opinion on him.

Hired Craig Ramsay
Rating= +3
Reasoning: An experienced coach with a nice resume and is well respected across the league, it's a nice change of pace. Has shown to have meaningful positive effects with respect to the powerplay and is a good sounding board for a comparably inexperienced coach like Eakins, we should of brought someone like this in when we hired Eakins in the first place.

Hired Dallas Eakins
Rating= -5 (x4 multiplier due to importance of position)= -20
Reasoning: Eakins has been a failure to this point there is no other way to cut it, we had 2 positive years of progression with the 2 prior coaches and after one year of Eakins we've had a substantial amount of regression. He's also bumped heads with some players and the sense is that some don't like playing for him, Belov outright said it, but others kind of said there were some rough strips early on, but he got better later on. I don't mind coaches who are hard on players if the results are there to back it up, but when the results are not there that's the last kind of coach I want to have. The only upside from him being here is both Hall and Yakupov are playing noticeably better defense then they were prior to him coming on board.

Hired Keith Acton
Rating= -2 (x2 multiplier due to importance of decision)= -4
Reasoning: Eakins running mate, he had a good long history of being an assistant coach in the NHL so he definitely wasn't underqualified for the position, but ultimately the team ran off the rails and as the associate coach he has to bare some responsibility for that.

Fired Ralph Krueger
Rating= -1
Reasoning: I know the general consensus is that Krueger was a good coach and that this was a horrible move in firing him, but I look at a coach that had his team losing the even strength battle by a pretty large margin and I consider strong even strength play to be a key to sustained success in this league, he largely relied on the strength of our special teams to get our advantages which tend to vary more on a year to year basis. I am not really against the firing, MacT's great failing was not in the act of firing him, but the fact that he didn't hire someone who is better then him.

Hired Mark Messier
Rating= -2
Reasoning: I don't see Messier bringing any positive benefits to the table as a consultant, it just seems like another old boys club hiring. Just another drinking buddy for after the games.

Fired Ed Olczyk
Rating= +2
Reasoning: Firing him isn't actually true, I believe they tried to demote him and then he just quit, but anyways I'd say we're better off without him I recall him making some CBA errors in the past and I recall him not knowing the waiver status of a player and it wasn't till someone on our board pointed out to Guy Flaming, that the organization finally got things straight.

Management and Player Support Staff Decisions Rating= -17

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

Craig MacTavish GM Odds and Ends:

Odds and Ends #1- Bringing Tkachev into camp even though we couldn't sign him.
Rating= -3
Reasoning: It didn't actually cost us anything, but it was an oversight which again gave the rest of the league a reason to laugh at us as if they didn't have enough ammo already. It also took time we could of been dedicating to other prospects for evaluation purposes or coaching purposes and lastly it highlighted just how good he is, I'm sure it wouldn't of stayed a secret for long, but we gave him a nice platform for showing off his skills and potentially improve his draft position, when he could of been an under the radar pick for us.

Odds and Ends #2- First Day Press Conference being named GM, borderline tampering.
Rating= -1
Reasoning: It seemed harmless in nature, but on day #1 of being named GM saying you want to add someone like Lucic is not a good thing, thankfully Boston didn't raise a fuss about it and it was just swept under the rug.

Odds and Ends #3- Said he didn't have confidence in Dubnyk
Rating= +1
Reasoning: I'm sure some will see this as a negative and I do as well in a certain respect, being that you shouldn't publicly declare you don't have faith in your goaltender as it isn't going to do anything for their confidence or their trade value, but I seen it positively only because a lot of people in the league (as was demonstrated by how many times he was traded and willingly picked up) did see him as a capable goaltender and the fact that MacT seen through that and knew he wasn't and tried making moves for Schneider in advance of the season. Shows he has a good handle on our players; knowing and evaluating your own players better then other teams do is half the battle as GM.

Odds and Ends #4- Not addressing weaknesses at center in the 2014 off-season
Rating= -5
Reasoning: There is no doubt we were just poorly equipped up the middle right out of the gate, our plans were made mostly of well wishes and hopes, you need to plan for some things not to work out and he should of added atleast one NHL center to our stable prior to the season beginning. He mentioned he didn't just want to add a center, but someone who was of higher quality, while that may be well and good I'd rather just have one more half decent center if you can't get it done immediately, cause relying on a center group of Gordon, Draisaitl, Arcobello, and Yakimov with one injury to RNH (as we experienced) is just unacceptable for an NHL team.

Odds and Ends #5- Not addressing weakness on defense in the 2013 off-season
Rating= -3
Reasoning: I'm not marking this one as hard as the other ill equipped team because he just started on the job at that time and he actually did a good job at getting a lot of defensive depth, none of them were really good enough, but you have an opportunity at catching lightning in a bottle and can absorb injuries more easily.

Odds and Ends #6- Press Conferences
Rating= +3
Reasoning: I see him as one of the more eloquent and well spoken GM's in the league and he gives a good interview and answers questions well, some people don't care about this, but how you represent your club in the media is part of the job and MacT does this well.

Odds and Ends #7- Pro Scouting
Rating= -3
Reasoning: I've seen our pro scouts as substandard for quite a while, MacT did issue a warning that he was going to give them some rope to make decisions, but if those decisions didn't pan out there would be consequences to pay. I haven't seen anybody dropped from our pro-scouts as of yet, so it seems like it was more bark then bite. I see this as a key area which we should be improving.

Odds and Ends #8- Representing our team to players
Rating= +2
Reasoning: MacT has wined and dined many players trying to convince them to come here, and from what I've read most meetings have gone quite well and they came out with a better impression of us after the fact then they did before the meeting. While Justin Schultz was before MacT was named GM he said MacT was one of the key people who convinced him to sign with us. He also got us to be one of the final two for Danny Dekeyser. While this shouldn't bare praise in most organizations the fact that he hasn't had a public spat with a player in the media like Tambo or Lowe before him is both noticed and appreciated.

Odds and Ends #9- Retaining Buchberger and Smith
Rating= -4
Reasoning: MacTavish did not hire either one and he did not fire either one, but there was a point when we brought Eakins into the fold, where he made it pretty clear he wanted Eakins to keep them onboard. The fact that they both were moved on after the fact makes me think Eakins and Acton didn't see them as making great contributions to the coaching staff and before that Krueger wanted to make a coaching staff addition cause he felt there was an element missing with them as his assistants. I don't think either of them were top shelf coaches and were more kept on due to their prior affiliation with our organization.

Odds and Ends #10- The attempted David Clarkson signing.
Rating= -2
Reasoning: If we actually signed him it would of been well worthy of a -5 rating as one of the most overpaid players in the league signed to a 7 year $36.75 million contract. I feel its somewhat unfair to ding MacTavish for this as I obviously haven't given him any bonus points for good players who would of helped us that he tried to sign and failed to do so; but this one had the potential to be catastrophically bad so I felt I would be doing a disservice not mentioning it, it's a bullet we were very lucky to dodge.

Total Odds and Ends Rating= -15

Total Comprehensive GM Rating= -8

Wow that was a lot more work then I thought it would be when I started. Congratulations to anyone who actually read all of that.

So in conclusion I'd say MacTavish has done more good things then bad for us, but that should be the expectation for any GM. The real question is how does he compare to other GM's around the league and is he helping us improve our team as much as one would expect and is he giving us an honest chance at winning.

So while going through that it seems he is prone to giving jobs to friends to the detriment of our club, which isn't a surprise to anyone here, with his signings he does reasonably well, but gets his hand bit on UFA's as is the case for most GM's (it tends to be the players who are the real winners of UFA frenzy). With regards to trades he seems to be fairing quite well and that represents his greatest strength to this point.

 

[shoop]

Thank you very much for that!

Very in-depth and helpful.

His trades and signings have been good. Lack of action C 2014-15/G 2013-14 are tough lessons. Hiring Eakins appears to be a fail.

He can correct the C issue and the coaching issue asap and next season could be a big jump.

Start of last year the goalie market was tight, but we picked up Fasth and Scrivens cheap at the end of the year.

Defence and goalie play has improved since the start of last season.

MacT took a shot with Eakins but failed. He did try though.

Overall, I am a fan of MacT as GM.

 

[Beerfish]

Good posts and well thought out on your part even if I disagree with a fair number of key points. Not sure if the +- scale accurately captures some of the moves.

Eakins -10
No centers -10
to name a couple.

 

[Up the Irons]

that was great stuff, Biscuit.

It further confirms what many already think: he's made many decent small moves, but a couple of huge mistakes. The Eakins hire is so costly it might be the truck-load that breaks the rebuild's back.

Also, over-rating some of his core players is still hurting the team. Schultz is not that good and Eberle, while good, is the perfect player to trade, but Mact sees him as untouchable. It is this undying faith in this core that is holding the team back.

 

[Up the Irons]

Good posts and well thought out on your part even if I disagree with a fair number of key points. Not sure if the +- scale accurately captures some of the moves.

Eakins -10
No centers -10
to name a couple.

yeah, that's closer.

 

[Aerrol]

This is really cool, but I agree with Beerfish I think. Particularly with Eakins - he's awful and poor teaching is a huge problem with a young team.

Good posts and well thought out on your part even if I disagree with a fair number of key points. Not sure if the +- scale accurately captures some of the moves.

Eakins -10
No centers -10
to name a couple.

 

[longtimeoilfan]

Good posts and well thought out on your part even if I disagree with a fair number of key points. Not sure if the +- scale accurately captures some of the moves.

Eakins -10
No centers -10
to name a couple.

Fairly captures? Its subjective nonsense... someone trying to quantify MacTavish's GM'ing. Not only are many things not quantifiable (exactly the problem with the corsi and possession approach the team is trying), but the scale has nothing to do with reality. The only thing that needs to be looked at to judge MacTavish is the current state of the team. And on that he fails miserably.

Need a number: Eakins and a lack of depth at center -163

 

[Tyrolean]

Faring so so. Pro scouting and latter picks drafting is horrible. If he lands a real coveted UA then his status goes up. ALso if he fired Eackins and hires a real coach his ratings go through the roof.

 

[Up the Irons]

Fairly captures? Its subjective nonsense... someone trying to quantify MacTavish's GM'ing. Not only are many things not quantifiable (exactly the problem with the corsi and possession approach the team is trying), but the scale has nothing to do with reality. The only thing that needs to be looked at to judge MacTavish is the current state of the team. And on that he fails miserably.

Need a number: Eakins and a lack of depth at center -163

sure, but he's only had 2 summers and 1 TD to turn around a complete train wreck, completely flawed lineup, and years (literally) of neglect by Tambo.

His biggest failing may be believing he can improve the team without touching the core. Not only can he not improve without trading a core piece, but the core itself is flawed. They are still too small and too soft. He should be looking at changing it, not waiting for it.

His most recent failing was believing that last year was a 'debacle', a 'perfect storm'. The truth is nothing of the sort. Last year was a look at reality. Last year was exactly what the team really is. Namely, among the 3 worst teams in the league.

 

[Tyrolean]

sure, but he's only had 2 summers and 1 TD to turn around a complete train wreck, completely flawed lineup, and years (literally) of neglect by Tambo.

His biggest failing may be believing he can improve the team without touching the core. Not only can he not improve without trading a core piece, but the core itself is flawed. They are still too small and too soft. He should be looking at changing it, not waiting for it.

His most recent failing was believing that last year was a 'debacle', a 'perfect storm'. The truth is nothing of the sort. Last year was a look at reality. Last year was exactly what the team really is. Namely, among the 3 worst teams in the league.

Hall is the only player on this team I would not trade. I hope he can trade or replace most of the core because if he doesn't the team will remain mediocre.

 

[mactforcoach]

Congrats on the work you put into this Biscuit. It may not be perfect but it is an objective way to look at things. Overall I think MacT is trying to improve the team but the big deals that everyone wants are hard to come by. Plus I doubt FA are breaking down the doors to join the Oilers.

I do agree that on Eakins he made a mistake, if not MacT than either the Rangers or Canucks were going to make the same mistake so clearly Eakins was the hot coaching prospect summer 2013. I still wish we would have stayed the course with Renney/Kruger tandem. The question now is how much longer does Eakins have to turn the ship before MacT is forced to stand up and make the announcement?

 

[russ99]

MacT's body of work is at least NHL average.

However, what's concerning is that he doesn't seem to learn from past problems.

Both offseasons can claim missed opportunity to sign players in mid-late FA at lower prices to fill holes that were left open and became problems during the season.

Also, both offseasons had weak negotiation with RFA's leading to less than optimal return for Gagner/Hemsky and a real problem with Petry/Schultz for next deadline and offseason.

And he hasn't learned to stop telegraphing moves to the press, either by himself or leaks through approved journalists.

We can't afford these kinds of slip ups, and with the assumption that some of our bad coaching decisions on Hunt, Petry and Marincin came from above this year, and how he's sticking with Eakins, despite a change being needed leads me to believe he's regressing rather than improving.

How much of that is due to the lack of accountability from the "Old Oiler Boy Network"?

 

[MarkGio]

Nice work Biscuits. Not to be picky, but I would've liked to see drafting, even through its a difficult rating this.early in his tenure. I think Drasitl over Bennett will be contentious, as an example.

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

I don't think enough was known about the Jeff Petry contract issues to say that it's a -3. If Jeff Petry really doesn't want to play here any longer then there isn't really much MacT can do. So far Jeff Petry has looked like crap also.

 

[GMofOilers]

I don't think enough was known about the Jeff Petry contract issues to say that it's a -3. If Jeff Petry really doesn't want to play here any longer then there isn't really much MacT can do. So far Jeff Petry has looked like crap also.

Totally disagree. A unsigned RFA is worth way more than a UFA at the years end. If Petry didnt wanna sign here, Mact should of traded him then and there, his worth would of been more.

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

Totally disagree. A unsigned RFA is worth way more than a UFA at the years end. If Petry didnt wanna sign here, Mact should of traded him then and there, his worth would of been more.

There's still not enough information. Trade for who? Did anyone want him? Were the offers/negotiations an acceptable alternative to signing him?

Either way not enough information is available.

 

[GMofOilers]

There's still not enough information. Trade for who? Did anyone want him? Were the offers/negotiations an acceptable alternative to signing him?

Either way not enough information is available.

Not enough info for your suggested Petry didnt wanna sign here either.

 

[Faelko]

Very well done. Kudo's

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

Not enough info for your suggested Petry didnt wanna sign here either.

"If" is what I suggested, so I obviously understand that.

 

[Gone]

This was really well done, Thank you!

Not that I agree with all of it, but it certainly is appreciated!

Out of curiosity I wonder how other GM's around the league would stack up.

 

[Mr Positive]

great work. I disagree on the Nikitin signing being a -2 "harmful". It's an overpayment, which is a minus, but it is managed to our cap. Nikitin comes off the books right when we have to re-sign Perron. We still have to re-sign Schultz and Yakupov, but that's cap space we should be setting aside for Perron anyway.

Nikitin also isn't a restrictive deal. We could have lowered the cap hit by adding a NMC, but we needed asset freedom with him. Also, we could have lowered the cap hit by giving him term, like with Fayne, but that would have been bad cap management. We have a lot of young LHD coming, which can take Nikitin's place in two years for sure, but not on the right side where we'll need Fayne.

You seem hung up that we paid a UFA price, which I totally agree with but I don't understand why you bring it up. He was days away from UFA. Of course we paid the UFA price. We're also a team low in the standings. Expecting some kind of discount for him is not realistic to our situation, and if he did hit UFA status chances are that we wouldn't have signed him. MacT spent weeks hammering out the deal with Nikitin, which was known to the public and involved having to extend that negotiating window a few times.

Also, even though Nikitin has been up and down so far for us, I think he will settle down and be a positive force back there. He also allows us to send young D like Nurse down right now.

So, considering the good and the bad of the contract, I would rate it a +1. I'm glad he's here. His high cap hit is well managed. He is definitely "mildly beneficial" overall, to use your wording.