MacDonald4MVP
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- May 7, 2016
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Hi folks. With all the signs pointing towards flyers horong him as new gm what are his perceived strengths, weaknesses or major coups and blunders from his time in Minnesota?
Hi folks. With all the signs pointing towards flyers horong him as new gm what are his perceived strengths, weaknesses or major coups and blunders from his time in Minnesota?
I've mentioned it on the Flyers forum, but I think he'd be a good hire. His biggest struggle in Minnesota was to acquire high-end talent without ever drafting in the top-5, and Philadelphia already has guys like Giroux, Couturier, Provorov, etc. It seems like a lot of the pieces that have been missing with the Wild are already in place with the Flyers.Hi folks. With all the signs pointing towards flyers horong him as new gm what are his perceived strengths, weaknesses or major coups or blunders in your opinion?
I might have this wrong, but wasn't part of the problem that he basically kept Risebrough's scouting staff intact for years? Once Flahr was given more control of the drafts we saw less of the Bussieres/Gabriel type picks and more guys like Shaw and Lodnia.He's an alright GM. Part of his blunders were due to inexperience, another part due to ownership wanting a competitive team that wasn't ready to be competitive yet. You would probably be getting him at a good time where he has learned some costly lessons at another franchise's expense. The only knock I really have against specifically him is the people he hired to run the draft were often too conservative, focusing on closer to ready NHL prospects instead of game breakers that needed development of the rest of their game. His ability, patience or even desire to let players develop in the AHL seemed to not really exist while with the Wild.
I might have this wrong, but wasn't part of the problem that he basically kept Risebrough's scouting staff intact for years? Once Flahr was given more control of the drafts we saw less of the Bussieres/Gabriel type picks and more guys like Shaw and Lodnia.
Either way, the Flyers seem to be in a better place with amateur scouting than we have been.
I might be conflating two different questions then. The first is who ran the drafts, and that may have always been Flahr from 2010 on. I was thinking he took over more control of the whole process around 2014 or so, but I might be imagining that. I can't find any citations to back it up, anyway.Risebrough's crew ran the 2009 draft. Turned out to be a very good one (for a change) that Fletcher later squandered. Flahr and company started in 2010. Good first year, but then it went downhill. So in other words, no, Risebrough's scouting staff was gone as quickly as possible.
If you don't count the top-10 picks, what the Wild have left for all of Fletcher's drafts is horrific.
How do you kill that which has no life? This dude has survived running in traffic 2 times now guys!Risebrough's crew ran the 2009 draft. Turned out to be a very good one (for a change) that Fletcher later squandered. Flahr and company started in 2010. Good first year, but then it went downhill. So in other words, no, Risebrough's scouting staff was gone as quickly as possible.
If you don't count the top-10 picks, what the Wild have left for all of Fletcher's drafts is horrific.
I might be conflating two different questions then. The first is who ran the drafts, and that may have always been Flahr from 2010 on. I was thinking he took over more control of the whole process around 2014 or so, but I might be imagining that. I can't find any citations to back it up, anyway.
The second question is who's been doing the scouting, and as far as I know the entire department under Lapointe was kept pretty much intact from Risebrough to Fletcher and through to today. I'm sure there's been turnover in the 9 years since, but it seems like it's been pretty minimal. And for the Flyers it might be a plus if he does the same in Philadelphia, because their scouts seem to have done pretty well in recent years.
As for how the mix of Fletcher/Flahr and the Flyers scouts will work, we'll have to wait and see.
I'll remember it because I was living in Chicago at the time, and my secretary, who was a Blackhawks season ticket holder and die-hard hockey fan, started laughing maniacally when she saw the news. I asked her what happened, and she just told me the deal, and I went into denial, thinking that couldn't be the whole deal and there had to be a 1st round pick involved. She then started to feel bad and said "well, maybe Minnesota can teach Barker to skate and play defense. He was a high draft pick."I’ll forever remember Nick Leddy for Cam Barker.
Not really, it's a binary question. Managing draft capitol, expansion mis-management, trade history? Other than Stahl dropping into his lap please name one thing he accomplished that made us say Wow over WTF.It's a much more complex answer than that.
Signing Parise and Suter certainly had me saying "Wow." Landing Boudreau was less dramatic, but still kind of a surprise. The Burns trade was exciting when it happened; I still remember cheers from the draft floor. Ditto for the Pominville trade. The Nino trade was half "Wow, Fletcher" and half "WTF, Snow?!" The Dubnyk trade and Spurgeon signing weren't immediate "Wow"s, but they developed into that over weeks/months. The Brodziak trade was more of a "Nice" than a "Wow." Thinking back, the Havlat signing was shocking at the time. Flipping him for Heatley was, too...Not really, it's a binary question. Managing draft capitol, expansion mis-management, trade history? Other than Stahl dropping into his lap please name one thing he accomplished that made us say Wow over WTF.
Ok, you win by naming one WOW. Signing BB was it for me. The rest, meh. I'm afraid I won't live out the Parise/Sutter contracts. You mentioned the Pominville trade, was that coming or going? Lol.Signing Parise and Suter certainly had me saying "Wow." Landing Boudreau was less dramatic, but still kind of a surprise. The Burns trade was exciting when it happened; I still remember cheers from the draft floor. Ditto for the Pominville trade. The Nino trade was half "Wow, Fletcher" and half "WTF, Snow?!" The Dubnyk trade and Spurgeon signing weren't immediate "Wow"s, but they developed into that over weeks/months. The Brodziak trade was more of a "Nice" than a "Wow." Thinking back, the Havlat signing was shocking at the time. Flipping him for Heatley was, too...
The more I think about this the more I think there weren't more than 6 months that went by under Fletcher where he did something that injected a little optimism into the fanbase. It didn't add up to a Cup, but there were more hits than misses overall.