Around the League 27: Why u do dis Dolan?

[LakeLivin]

Buffalo won't get anyone near Eichel caliber for Eichel no matter how they do this, that's the thing. If you're going to trade a dollar player, you might as well get a 75 cent guy, 2 50 cent guys, and a quarter, and maybe a lotto ticket or two. For a team that does happen to need players at every level of the lineup and will be getting a new young star who very well could be Eichel caliber at the top of the draft this year, that may not be such a bad move. Yeah, you could shake every bush in the league for a 90 cent guy and two dimes, but that'll take a year and you'll have a disgruntled captain poisoning the locker room. Do you really want to go that route?

We don't disagree in general, I'm just thinking that if Eichel is on the table there would likely be several teams with offers that start with a player worth 10-15 cents more than the best that Seattle will have access to in the time frame of an Eichel trade. On the main board team fans are starting out their offers with players like Horvat, Matthew Tkachuk, Kakko or LaFreniere, etc. (insert caveats re main board and team fans here, lol).

Another BIG caveat of course is the risk associated with Eichel's injuries. That could dramatically lower his return, accordingly.

 

[cptjeff]

Hasn’t he already gotten a coach or two fired though? Maybe that was media perception but it seemed like whatever Jack wanted happened, at least for a little bit.

If 97 could ride it out in Edm...

As far as surgery goes the team has a lot of experts looking at these guys and neck surgery is a risky proposition. Then pushing him not to do it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. He might just be impatient there.

I agree there’s time for him to grow up a bit still but he’s going to be the big dog wherever he goes with that contract. He’s going to be expected to lead a team to success immediately. You’d assume he’d have better support, but we don’t know that he can really lead yet.

The question to me is not whether he's thrown his weight around, but whether he was wrong when he did so. And I don't think you can argue that he was. The only way to attack Eichel here is to say that players should shut up and go along with whatever the team throws their way no matter how stupid it is. That's an excellent way for players to stop caring and to mail it in for a paycheck. See: Jeff Skinner's Buffalo tenure.

 

[bleedgreen]

The question to me is not whether he's thrown his weight around, but whether he was wrong when he did so. And I don't think you can argue that he was. The only way to attack Eichel here is to say that players should shut up and go along with whatever the team throws their way no matter how stupid it is. That's an excellent way for players to stop caring and to mail it in for a paycheck. See: Jeff Skinner's Buffalo tenure.

I’m not convinced he was right to do so. It hasn’t been THIS bad the whole time he was there.

I do believe that to some extent you get drafted where you get drafted and that’s what it is until free agency. You’re lucky to be in the best league in the world.

I don’t believe for a second Skinner is mailing it in. Maybe the last half of this season where the entire team is struggling it’s been tough to be stoked, but overall? No.

 

[3CanesInTheBox]

wonky beginning to this Florida Men game

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Ouch.

 

[cptjeff]

Ouch.

Clearly, they're all primadonnas.

 

[Svechhammer]

Ouch.

Its honestly surprising that we didn't hear more of this during the 2017 and 2018 seasons here. But I guess having such a young team did help with keeping that kind of mindset out of the lockerroom.

 

[Dishface]

Ouch.

Y'all, ya know, could have busted your ass this year and made the playoffs. It's no one's fault but the teams for getting this bad. When you go from coach to coach to coach to coach, the blame is on the players. You aren't handed anything in the NHL, work for it. Hell, the sabres should bring in Torts to get the most out of the players and bench the slackers.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Y'all, ya know, could have busted your ass this year and made the playoffs. It's no one's fault but the teams for getting this bad. When you go from coach to coach to coach to coach, the blame is on the players. You aren't handed anything in the NHL, work for it. Hell, the sabres should bring in Torts to get the most out of the players and bench the slackers.

While there's definitely some truth to that, there's also the fact that the team lacks talent, lost their best player to injury, and their starting goalie was in and out of the line-up. That's on the GM and ownership for not putting together a team with enough talent (or the right talent).

We've been there as a team in the not too distant past. We went a long time with insufficient talent and a team that lacked an identity. That's what I see in Buffalo. A collection of parts with no real team identity and lack of talent.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Saw on Reddit that, at the end of this season, the Islanders will have finally paid the last check on DiPietro’s 15-year standard contract.

Then all they have to worry about is paying his buyout contract, which runs till the 2028-2029 season.

 

[hblueridgegal]

For the ladies or SOs...looks kinda like Wag wear to me but good for Erin! She'll have a line for each team.

 

[Canes]

Saw on Reddit that, at the end of this season, the Islanders will have finally paid the last check on DiPietro’s 15-year standard contract.

Then all they have to worry about is paying his buyout contract, which runs till the 2028-2029 season.

The NHL version of the Bobby Bonilla contract. Must be something in the water in and around NYC.

 

[hblueridgegal]

Ryan Warsofsky, Chicago Wolves head coach

When Warsofsky was hired by the Charlotte Checkers in 2019, he was 31 years old, making him the youngest head coach hired in the AHL since 2000. Warsofsky counts Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, a fellow Massachusetts native, as one of his closest mentors. He came up through the Washington Capitals system (around the same time as Carbery) and was the ECHL South Carolina StingRays coach and director of hockey ops before moving to the AHL. Now he's with the Chicago Wolves and has them in first place this season.
"He's a real up-and-comer," one respondent said. "He's had a ton of success so far. He's just killing it."

Eric Tulsky, Carolina Hurricanes assistant general manager
The Canes don't spend as much money as other NHL clubs, but have found success by exploiting other areas. The most significant: Carolina leaned into analytics. Tulsky, who is in his seventh year with the organization, is a Harvard graduate who also holds a Ph.D. from UC-Berkeley. He began in hockey by blogging about the sport in 2011.
"Eric is always at the forefront of everything; cutting edge, super bright," one respondent said. 'It's clear the Hurricanes value him because they keep promoting him, but I'd like to see what he could do running his own team one day."

 

[A Star is Burns]

It'll be interesting to see how Tulsky's career goes. I don't know quite how to put it, but when I listen to him in interviews, he doesn't really sound like a guy that would be able to run a team as a GM in a traditional sense. I feel like he's even admitted some of his weaknesses to that end and made sure to let interviewers know about parts that he's not involved in even though people try to give him credit. Perhaps being in this collaborative environment is and will be good for him to move up the chain eventually. Or maybe he's ambitious and will look to run a team sooner rather than later.

 

[Chrispy]

It'll be interesting to see how Tulsky's career goes. I don't know quite how to put it, but when I listen to him in interviews, he doesn't really sound like a guy that would be able to run a team as a GM in a traditional sense. I feel like he's even admitted some of his weaknesses to that end and made sure to let interviewers know about parts that he's not involved in even though people try to give him credit. Perhaps being in this collaborative environment is and will be good for him to move up the chain eventually. Or maybe he's ambitious and will look to run a team sooner rather than later.

I think it's going to be more than just "running a team." As you said, he knows which part of the GM obligations he does not have experience in.

A team hiring Tulsky would have to be ready to transform to the collective GM model, with a contracts specialist, some analytics specialists, and an outward-facing position of GM who fields calls and discusses deals.

And that gets to question #2: Does Tulsky want to be in the outward facing position? I have no idea if that's a position he'd like to try.

 

[hblueridgegal]

He'd need to fine tune his ability to doublespeak real quick.

 

[A Star is Burns]

I think it's going to be more than just "running a team." As you said, he knows which part of the GM obligations he does not have experience in.

A team hiring Tulsky would have to be ready to transform to the collective GM model, with a contracts specialist, some analytics specialists, and an outward-facing position of GM who fields calls and discusses deals.

And that gets to question #2: Does Tulsky want to be in the outward facing position? I have no idea if that's a position he'd like to try.

I mean, yeah, all that was my point. If another team wants to have a setup as we have here, I think it could work. However, other teams seem hesitant to break from traditional setups and roles. And just from those interviews I've listened to, which don't amount to much, but I didn't get the impression he'd want or be a fit for an outward-facing position. Perhaps he would be better set up for that here with how things are run. Or if a team really wants him, maybe he can get them to change their mentality to match what works well for him.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

There are often people in most successful organizations that don't want the limelight and want to contribute to the success behind the scenes and be valued and appreciated by the organization for that role. I don't know Tulsky at all, but to me, it "seems" he might be that type of guy.

The Analytics and player/prospect evaluation is probably the "fun" part of the job. The dealing with agents, players, NHL, state/local governments, negotiating contracts, firing coaches, etc... is probably things a lot of people don't want to be saddled with.

Like I said, I have no idea what his aspirations are, but sometimes the "behind the scenes" guy has a lot more fun in the job without the all the headaches, particularly if the are valued and compensated.

 

[A Star is Burns]

There are often people in most successful organizations that don't want the limelight and want to contribute to the success behind the scenes and be valued and appreciated by the organization for that role. I don't know Tulsky at all, but to me, it "seems" he might be that type of guy.

The Analytics and player/prospect evaluation is probably the "fun" part of the job. The dealing with agents, players, NHL, state/local governments, negotiating contracts, firing coaches, etc... is probably things a lot of people don't want to be saddled with.

Like I said, I have no idea what his aspirations are, but sometimes the "behind the scenes" guy has a lot more fun in the job without the all the headaches, particularly if the are valued and compensated.

Yeah, that sounds about right to me. He's probably comfortable in the setup, keeps getting promoted, and gets to have people constantly call him a genius, even when it's related to things he's said he has little to no input on. Not a bad gig if he is as we suspect he might be.

 

[GoldiFox]

Tulsky is probably smart enough to do anything he wants to do in life. While working in nano-somethings-or-others with his Berkely PhD he took a hobby of blogging about hockey analytics, became one of the top experts in the entire world, got hired by an NHL team to live his hobby, and has ascended to the role of Assistant GM of an NHL franchise. I doubt he leaves the Canes for any traditional hockey reasons. If he gets bored with his role he'd probably just go invent self driving personal spaceships or something.

 

[A Star is Burns]

Tulsky is probably smart enough to do anything he wants to do in life. While working in nano-somethings-or-others with his Berkely PhD he took a hobby of blogging about hockey analytics, became one of the top experts in the entire world, got hired by an NHL team to live his hobby, and has ascended to the role of Assistant GM of an NHL franchise. I doubt he leaves the Canes for any traditional hockey reasons. If he gets bored with his role he'd probably just go invent self driving personal spaceships or something.

That's the only thing I'd be "worried" about with him. Is if he ever gets bored. Like you say, he could probably do just about anything.

 

[GIN ANTONIC]

The thing about the Canes model is all about making the 'smart decision'. I mean every team is based on that but the Canes actually have a system/models/data to back up why something is a smart decision, not just 'I like this player' or 'I think we need more size/grit'.

The way the Canes borg is set up is that your ass is never really in the hot seat, because it's a collaborative decision on most things. As long as you can back up why something should or shouldn't be done and others agree with you, then you can probably have the job as long as you want. Is the money as good as at other clubs? Seems like the answer is no, but you're also just working to your strengths and not probably dealing with as much shit that you don't want to do in other organizations. A lot more people (usually younger generations) are moving in this direction of not necessarily working as much but only focusing on the things you want to do. Not chasing the overall highest paycheque or position but staying in the background and being a support/facilitator. It hasn't really happened in sports but maybe why not?

For Forslund, it didn't make because he's doing the same job (at a very high level) as other pbp guys so going to Seattle to get paid more made sense vs staying in Carolina with the weird profit sharing/prove your worth type agreement that Dundon wanted. JF is and was a wanted commodity and was always going to land on his feet. His job has nothing to do with on ice performance and there's no 'good or bad' decisions to be made that can end your career unless you're Thom Brennaman.

For front office guys do you take the $750k position that you can have as long as you want or go for the $1.2 mil position that has more responsibility/stress where the risk/reward is much higher and you could potentially be out on your ass in 2-4 years. Depending on the reasons or situation behind why you're let go you might be radioactive to the rest of the hockey world forever. I know that to me making 6 figures to have a fairly low stress job (comparatively speaking) and nerd out about hockey sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

 

[Svechhammer]

Hasn't Dundon gone on record to say the two people he is dedicated to keeping in this organization on the coaching/management/administrative side are Brindy and Tulsky? He sees that those two people give us an advantage over other organizations and its worth the investment to keep them around, and everyone else could potentially be replaceable with them still in the fold?

I don't see us letting him get away. To the point where we'd give him the GM title as quickly as he wanted it if it came to that. I've always had the feeling that the biggest reason that Tulsky isn't our full time GM right now is because he doesn't want it, and possibly would rather focus on the numbers than negotiations. Almost like we split the typical GM role in two between him and Waddell and split pay accordingly.

 

[A Star is Burns]

31 Thoughts: What caused the 'disconnect' between Eichel, Sabres

Eichel's situation sounds reminiscent of Trent Williams and the Washington Football team as far as a medical issue exacerbating a rift that already existed from being stuck with a gong show franchise. Probably not a lot of trust between the sides at this point.

 

[Elsker]

Hasn't Dundon gone on record to say the two people he is dedicated to keeping in this organization on the coaching/management/administrative side are Brindy and Tulsky? He sees that those two people give us an advantage over other organizations and its worth the investment to keep them around, and everyone else could potentially be replaceable with them still in the fold?

I don't see us letting him get away. To the point where we'd give him the GM title as quickly as he wanted it if it came to that. I've always had the feeling that the biggest reason that Tulsky isn't our full time GM right now is because he doesn't want it, and possibly would rather focus on the numbers than negotiations. Almost like we split the typical GM role in two between him and Waddell and split pay accordingly.

In one of his audio interviews, Dundon acknowledged that Tulsky was so smart that he could make him a whole lot more money working for one of his other business interests.

But fortunately, he owned a hockey team...and liked winning.