njx9
Registered User
- Feb 1, 2016
- 2,161
- 340
Yzerman was the way to go, but at this point taking a chance on someone new would be better than Holland continually singing mediocrity through their late 30's. Shanahan would have been interesting even. Another example of a GM going by while Holland's country club membership ticks onward. Heck I would even try Pier McGuire to get something new going. I think he would die to try a rebuild for an original 6 team.
I think I'd feel better about 'just making a change' so to speak, if it were someone from far outside of the organization. I'm not sure where the loyalty buck really stops (FO? Illitch?), but I'd hate to dump Holland for someone else who'd be guaranteed to be in the spot too long. I dunno. It's a good question.
Going on a tangent, if we think Holland is just following orders, he's honestly doing so fairly competently, right? The team hovers at the bare edge of mediocre. If we replaced him with someone objectively worse, then trying to follow those orders might inadvertently end up in the rebuild some folks want, which would be a win. If we think he's actually trying to build a Cup team, then we either get someone better and more effective who rebuilds 'on the fly' in a better way (i.e. making trades, not resigning the Helm's and Abbie's of the world to long term contracts), or we get someone worse and the 'rebuild via a playoff miss' crowd gets what they want. Either, I think, only requires that the FO be willing to move on from a bad GM quickly.