Long post alert! I was bored at lunch and thought I would post my thoughts on why it is important to have a strategy and to follow through on it.
A lot of people want to see a big trade, FA signing etc with regards to fixing this team. I can understand the frustration but I just wanted to discuss strategy involved in making decisions. In business even the largest corporations can’t compete across all market segments or across all strategic dimensions (cost leader vs. prod differentiation being one). Corporations have limited resources and competition is just too fierce. Successful corporations design a strategy around very specific market segments and pool their resources from the top down to developing processes and systems to better meet the demands of their clients than competitors.
Professional Sports isn’t really all that different. An organization like the Jets has finite resources and competes against 29 other multimillion dollar entities for talent. I believe that like in business successful organizations will choose how they want to compete and then go about aligning the organizations resources to achieving that mandate.
True North has indicated how it wishes to compete numerous times. They have designed a strategy and have aligned a good portion of the organizations resources to competing on the draft floor and through their development system. Those who say Chevy needs to start acting like a real GM are missing the mark here. He puts on his big boy and goes to war against the other 29 teams at draft and in the designing of procedures and processes geared towards turning our draft picks into impact players which is what his mandate from ownership is. The Jets plan on achieving organizational success by developing a competitive advantage over the other teams with regards to drafting and developing. Does that mean that the Jets should forego trying to acquire talent through trades and FA, absolutely not? The Jets have and will continue to add pieces through trade and FA; it just won’t be the primary talent acquisition avenue that they take. I am sure that if there is a deal that fits with the strategic direction of the team Chevy won’t be afraid to make it.
Moreover developing a high level of proficiency through drafting and development will have a spillover effect into the organizations proficiency on the trade front. Having a highly stocked cupboard of assets makes it easier to trade for talent to fill roster holes.
This strategy isn’t reinventing the wheel, it has been done to great success by a number of organizations.
I would like to draw your attention to two cases as to why adopting a strategy and sticking to it is prudent.
I am going to compare the Toronto Maple Leafs to their provincial rival the Ottawa Senators. Despite not having the near the resources that the Leafs have, the Sens have massively outperformed the Leafs over the last decade and a bit, why?
The reason is that the Senators realized early that they would never be able to compete with the big spending teams in FA so they designed a system geared towards drafting and retaining their talent. They went about aligning the organizations resources to doing that and over the years have developed the required competencies needed to execute that strategy.
The Leafs on the other hand have never shown the patience to see something through to its conclusion. They continually change their mind on what direction they want to go in. They are very much the model that some on here would like Chevy to take. They kept trading prospects to try to prolong an ageing window, they kept overpaying for mediocre Free Agents. They never had the patience to stick with a plan long enough to learn and develop the competencies needed to achieve success in any paradigm in the league. Instead they have tried to do it all and have been stuck in no man’s land because of it.
It is important not to try to do everything at once, you can become good in many areas but its very difficult to achieve mastery in any of them.
I’m not going to say the Jets will ultimately be successful, but by developing a long term strategy that has the full support of the organization they have at least given themselves a legit chance for long term sustainable organizational success. Its more than can be said about other organizations in the league.
You, like many other "patient" people here like to misrepresent the position of people here advocating change. It's few and far between that you will find a person that wants to change directions at the drop of a hat ala Toronto or Philadelphia. That is not the model we are following, nor it is the model that should be emulated, obviously. Not too mention the logistical issues with Philly and Toronto being huge market teams while we are a small market team.
What people are advocating that "drafting and developing" is not nearly enough. Not ONE team that has had success gets success solely through the draft. There is more to an organization than hanging onto your 7 picks and picking good players while barely managing your NHL roster.
Chevy has continually shied away from making an impact on the roster. He has made some secondary roster moves, but this is essentially the team that played in 2010-11. How many other teams have essentially the same roster from? Maybe a few like Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston. What do those teams have in common? Success. Whereas we have had none.
Chevy appears to have no direction. 29 other teams are out there drafting and developing talent. You are absolutely kidding yourself if you think we managed to re-invent the wheel and become the master of drafting and developing. But but all those players are going to Gary Roberts! But so are 100's of unknowns, we are doing what everyone else is doing.
What is required is some real direction in the organization. Are we rebuilding? Are we adding picks and youth? Or are we trying to take the next step? Are we trading picks for veterans and signing free agents? We seem to be trying to do both at once. That is just not going to work. We have little idea what we want to do. That's what's killing this organization.
How do you know he didn't pursue any of them? And do you think any of those players would get us into the playoffs? In the central division?
I know because if he had pursued those players they would be in Winnipeg? Think Hainsey is turning down 2y. 5million at start of free agency to sign for 1y, 2mil in Carolina? Really? Think Khudobin or Greiss would turn down the chance to challenge a weak starter for 1-1.5 million rather than the peanuts they took to be clear cut backups? If so I have a bridge to sell you in Nunavut.
Well it's debatable whether Hainsey makes us a Better D team and nobody is claiming our problem is the play of Montoya. Would any of those other goalie's have played more than Monty? Probably not. I don't see where the points come from.
Noel takes his marching orders from Chevy. Chevy brings in Khudobin to challenge perennially mediocre netminder Pavelec and tells Noel to give him a real chance, you think Noel is suddenly going to bench him? If he does, Chevy moves on to the next coach. It's not even close to debatable if Hainsey makes us a better team. He makes us a MUCH better team with him in the top 6 compared to CLitsome. I said way back when the contract was signed that we would be talking buyout by the end of year 2 with Clitsome. Turns out we are talking that much much sooner. Clitsome is a #6/7 D. Hainsey is a solid #4. That's just the easiest move. There is also Ference, Scuderi, Gilbert etc that moved on the UFA market, not too mention Smid was moved earlier this year for absolute PEANUTS. There was opportunities to improve this club Chevy has refused to take
