As some have implied, we’ll always have the streak and the sweep. Upsetting Toronto in the bubble was pretty nice too.
Jarmo was a decent GM as a whole, even if these last few years post panarin have dragged him down.
He was a very good trade maker for the most part and offseasons were hardly ever boring. I will always appreciate that considering Howson offseason were almost always snoozefests. His UFA signings were extremely bad (Horton, which forced a clarkson trade being the worst) and team building were subpar. His drafting was a mixed bag, often getting guys to the NHL but no real “impactful” stars or role players.
His coaching decisions were poor (except Torts) and the Babcock decision made this day inevitable.
His inability to keep talent was a major problem and clearly something in his management/negotiation style rubbed players the wrong way. Not sure it’s all on him or if that’s a JD problem too though.
In the end he’s the best GM in franchise history. “By default” as it may be, it’s still true. He had us at the highest of highs and also some of the lowest of lows. He was never able to recover after Panarin/Bob left, and it drove away Torts, PLD, Jones and others.
But as some alluded to, this isn’t a Baron wasteland where the cupboards are bare. There’s some extremely talented players here. It’s up to the new guy to forge the identity and mold the talent going forward.
Thanks for everything jarmo. But this was the right call, and should have been done a while ago. It’s weird, he was hired during my senior year of high school and was basically the last piece left of my “childhood” sports figures. I’m Getting old
