The Zermanator
In Yzerman We Trust
- Jan 21, 2013
- 3,395
- 1,207
Exactly. Some around here like to %$&* on Yzerman saying he's never won a Cup as GM. Well the Cup is hard to win in a cap league. But they're in the conversation every year. They have some of the best players in the league. And yet he's still somehow in the running for Karlsson. How is it that after years of not competing, whenever a big player hits the trade block we 'don't have the assets'?For not having assets to build a team with? By the very definition of the words he's failure in that respect.
Yzerman is a hustler, that's the difference. Holland has become more of a 'steady as she goes, stay the course' type. He's ultra-conservative and that's his major failing. This has played out exactly like many of us were predicting when advocating for a real rebuild years ago. A slow but steady decline into mediocrity, with very little to show for it.
Some questioned our loyalty because we 'wanted the team to lose'. But I never looked at it like that. By starting a real rebuild sooner, sure we would have started losing earlier. But we also would have started winning again sooner. Once a rebuild becomes necessary, it's necessary. Deluding yourself with fantasies of 'rebuilds on the fly' (which admittedly I believed for the first few years ) only delays the inevitable. And all we got in exchange was a few more years of mostly boring hockey finishing out as first round target practice, and then not even that. Just look at the top 10 from the few drafts before last year's, pick one player from each. That could be the hockey we're looking at now.
It's not even about the Cup, or the playoffs. At the end of the day, it's all about the hockey on the ice. And the last few years, including the last 2 or 3 first round exits, were mostly boring, unskilled hockey. I want them to have that talent and skill again, even if it means being really bad for a few years. At least you get to watch the young elite players grow while the team is bad. I'm actually excited for next season because I can't wait to see another year out of Larkin and Mantha and watch the young blood in Rasmussen, Zadina, and Hronek get their starts. So here's to the rebuild finally starting in earnest. To his credit, Holland's done more good than bad since starting it. Even if he does say things that worry me from time to time.
I'm just sick of the same tired argument in every single thread. I think the reason why those who criticize Holland annoy me more, is they have a tendency to turn every conversation into an opportunity to take little jabs and derail the topic, and while sometimes it may be true, I'd prefer it to be left in a single thread dedicated to Holland opposed a repetitive loop all over the board.
This is what I don't get, he's the general manager. Yeah his name's gonna pop up in quite a few discussions... Because he is the final decision maker on everything to do with this team. Conspiracies about ownership pulling strings notwithstanding.