Better than it was in 2010 when Tallon took over and if you say otherwise then you're just being forgetful about how bad it really was. You can say they have only me playoffs twice with nothing to show for it, that's fine. This is sports and only the end result matters, I get that. But the actual state of the franchise is better.
In the season prior to Tallon, Weiss was our leading scorer with 60 points! Second was Horton who wanted out and was constantly injured. Third was Frolik....Let that sink in for a second. Weiss was our top-line center when he should have been a second-line center. The rest of our centers were 3rd/4th line guys like Reinprecht, Campbell, Moore...that's just sad. Our top dmen were McCabe and Ballard...that's fine as a 2nd pair, but top pair?? That's abysmal.
Our best prospects were I think Kulikov, Ellerby, Shore, Matthias, and I can't remember who else, but again, that's just pathetic. We might as well have not had any prospects at all. And yeah the first 2010 draft under Tallon sucked. But he was only part of the team for like a month before the draft, some of the blame goes on him...but he was also relying on our relatively non-existent scouting department.
Also don't forget our sad sack owners who didn't have enough money to run a professional sports team and there were like three co-owners who couldn't agree on anything. Then I think there was some divorce thing with Viner if I remember correctly that really screwed things up. We basically had no money at all for anything. Then comes Viola, which seemed great at first. Spent some money, let Tallon do his thing. Then we all know about the calculator boys fiasco (I don't say this derisively, I just don't know what else to call it). Then the expansion fiasco which maybe was Tallon's fault, maybe not, we'll never know who was fully in charge.
First, I don't think we could get any of the top tier management people. Nobody would have come here under those circumstances. We're lucky that someone like Tallon was even willing to take the job to be honest. Second, with those circumstances outlined above...not sure many others would have done better. We've gone from dumpster fire to a the bare minimum that maybe can at least be taken seriously as a professional sports team.
So yeah, the results aren't what we want, but this team was a disaster before Tallon was here. Some of the improvements are because of him, some aren't, and he's had his mistakes. If he goes, he goes, I don't really care, but no way anyone can seriously argue this franchise isn't in a better spot today than when he joined.