GDT: Game 4: Carolina Hurricanes(2-0-0) @ Seattle Kraken(1-1-1) - 7:00 p.m. PT / 10:00 p.m. ET

[GrungeHockey]

Exactly.

I dunno man. This looks super incompetent from my POV. What about this org’s decisions to date gives you confidence?

What's so incompetent? What would you have done instead?

The organization has traded for numerous draft picks and drafted (it would appear) fairly well. They added a couple decent wingers. I don't see much else they could have done.

I'm not sure Hakstol is a good coach, but you know how coaching goes. He will likely be the first fall guy and that's fine. If Trotz wanted back in to coaching next year I'd certainly give him a call.

They paid the wrong goalie it would seem but he was the name guy at the time and most experts thought he was the guy so I can't really fault them. I'd probably have made that same mistake and if people are honest I'm sure most others would have as well.

I'm really not sure what you expect them to have done at this point???

 

[Irie]

I liked the players we brought in except I thought we needed a bonafide top 3-4 D-man to go Defensive stalwart A Larsson. V Dunn is OK too but Oleksiak and Soucy are 5-6th D-men and Borgen is a 7th

75% of the teams in the league have Oleksiak in their top four if he is on their roster.

Dunn and Larsson have had some of the biggest defensive breakdowns on the team so far in this early season.

The problem has been the team playing from behind and the D being overly aggressive trying to make plays while not having any forward support covering that aggressiveness. If the D are trying to do too much within the system, the coaching staff has to reel them in. If they are being told to take chances to create offense when down on the scoreboard, then the coaching staff has to have the forwards aware of their defensive responsibilities covering for the D.

What we currently have is a zero communication system and I am not sure who the blame falls on other than the coaching staff.

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

This is pretty doom and gloom to be honest.

You pointed out primarily 2 bad contracts: Gru and Oleksiak. Sure, Gru has looked terrible but unless you think he fell of a cliff and his issues are not primarily team D issues, he can improve. Driedger was pretty good toward the end of last season.

Oleksiak is what he is. He looked pretty decent last season but has not looked great so far 4 games into the season. Too early to say he is not good anymore.

The moves from the off-season, Schultz, Bura and Bjorkstrand are all looking good early into this season. We have a plethora of prospects, the hope is that they can step in into the older aging players and hopefully some of them can be moved while still having positive value. Our prospect pool is looking good right now and gives us players at all positions assuming they do pan out.

Something that could make a massive difference is also in coaching. I don't think Hakstol has the chops to lead this team. This team needs more of a veteran coach with experience. Also, someone who can handle development of our prospects well.

More moves can be made at the TDL to set us for the future. Move Soucy at the TDL. If Donskoi shows some form once he returns from injury, move him as well. You want to look for this team to be successful, wait another 2 years to see how we are looking like.

We are an expansion team.

Vegas set the bar high for sure, but they're an expansion team as well. Rules have changed though, and the league has reasonably concluded that for the $850 million "buy in", teams should have an opportunity to be competitive from the get go. The days of expansion teams sucking for years (Atlanta, Columbus, Minnesota, Atlanta, Tampa, Anaheim, Nashville) have changed, assuming competent management and direction. A lot has been said about Ronnie being too stubborn or even arrogant when negotiating with other clubs prior to the expansion draft. There's little question in my mind we f***ed that up, but I wasn't in the room, so who knows.

I gave Gru a pass last year. He wasn't special his first year with Colorado. His pass expired, I expect at a minimum, NHL average SV%. Right now, he's worst in the league (assuming we stop counting at 50) with .851. Yes, sample size is small, but the trend seems to continue.
His contract is absurd for this team. AAV is bad, but term is ridiculously stupid.

Big, slow defenders not named Chara (ignoring his last two years) generally do not age well. I wasn't a big fan of Oleksiak when he was a Penguin and I don't think he is going get much better going forward.

I agree with you about recent off-season moves. Promising.

And Hakstol should not be coaching in the NHL. Period. We have a ton of potential value in our two young Cs. We need a coach who won't squander this. I'd be happy for one who doesn't look like a deer in the headlights.

I am not a careful student of junior hockey and prospects, if you are right about the quality and depth we have there then maybe in two years I'll feel more comfortable about our path.

 

[dylanmacarthur]

What's so incompetent? What would you have done instead?

The organization has traded for numerous draft picks and drafted (it would appear) fairly well. They added a couple decent wingers. I don't see much else they could have done.

I'm not sure Hakstol is a good coach, but you know how coaching goes. He will likely be the first fall guy and that's fine. If Trotz wanted back in to coaching next year I'd certainly give him a call.

They paid the wrong goalie it would seem but he was the name guy at the time and most experts thought he was the guy so I can't really fault them. I'd probably have made that same mistake and if people are honest I'm sure most others would have as well.

I'm really not sure what you expect them to have done at this point???

For starters I wouldn’t have left so much talent on the table in the expansion draft if the plan was to be competitive right off the bat. See that guy named Tarasenko that got three apples last night? Yeah that’s one example.

Hakstol is an objectively bad hire and has no business coaching an NHL team. Another easy example.

 

[GrungeHockey]

For starters I wouldn’t have left so much talent on the table in the expansion draft if the plan was to be competitive right off the bat. See that guy named Tarasenko that got three apples last night? Yeah that’s one example.

Hakstol is an objectively bad hire and has no business coaching an NHL team. Another easy example.

If you had done that, the salary cap going forward would have been screwed.

Hakstol, yes, that's a debatable point I agree.

 

[dylanmacarthur]

If you had done that, the salary cap going forward would have been screwed.

Hakstol, yes, that's a debatable point I agree.

Why would the salary cap be screwed?

 

[Irie]

Why would the salary cap be screwed?

Tarasenko was never an option. He was coming off of back to back shoulder surgeries and then ligament damage treatment.

Then there was talk about his attitude in the Blues dressing room being an issue and that was exactly what Francis was trying to avoid at all costs. Francis didn't care if a player had the most skill in the league, if there was even a small question of character issue, he was avoiding them.

Also, Seattle could easily have traded for Tarasenko after the draft, but Francis, along with 30 other GMs passed.

Tarasenko demanded a trade and rumor was Armstrong was not looking for much in return if traded at full cap, so while we can look back with 20/20 hindsight and say Tarasenko may have been a good pickup, no one in the league agreed at the time, which indicates that acquiring him was not an easy example/decision to make.

 

[dylanmacarthur]

Tarasenko was never an option. He was coming off of back to back shoulder surgeries and then ligament damage treatment.

Then there was talk about his attitude in the Blues dressing room being an issue and that was exactly what Francis was trying to avoid at all costs. Francis didn't care if a player had the most skill in the league, if there was even a small question of character issue, he was avoiding them.

Also, Seattle could easily have traded for Tarasenko after the draft, but Francis, along with 30 other GMs passed.

Tarasenko demanded a trade and rumor was Armstrong was not looking for much in return if traded at full cap, so while we can look back with 20/20 hindsight and say Tarasenko may have been a good pickup, no one in the league agreed at the time, which indicates that acquiring him was not an easy example/decision to make.

Seems like a risk worth taking to me. Spending to the cap clearly isn’t an issue. Pick him up and if he does great, trade for assets. If he struggles, cut him or trade for fewer assets to a contender willing to take a risk.

If Francis passed on a guy with legendary work ethic, lots of potential upside and minimal downside, over unsubstantiated rumors of locker room conflict, he should be fired yesterday.