_Del_
Registered User
- Jul 4, 2003
- 15,426
- 6,738
If Edmonton can dig out of the cap problems (and avoid creating new ones), they have the foundation to be successful leaning on the established talent they already have and bringing in veteran support pieces. It's just getting those pieces without risky long-term contracts which should be difficult.
The roster is thin there, but there's no doubt they have much higher-end talent than Tipp ever had here. D needs a complete overhaul. You can fill the bottom six with the right style of garbage, and Tipp will be able to win games with just McDavid and Drai providing offense, so that actually works for them (or is at least viable) during the cap crunch assuming they fix the defense and goaltending. The hard part for the GM is deciding who gets cut loose to let you go get Tippett's guys to fill out the roster (Well, that and keepong Tipp away from BBQ's with ownership!).
I'm mostly interested in seeing what type of buy-in he gets from "the core". I'm guessing there will be quite a bit of mumbling press conferences complaining that "we just practiced that exact thing" and Hitchcock-esque "the coaching staff cannot want it more than the players" . Even failure won't be entirely on Tipp, because of the current mess, imo. I'm guessing he knows that, and that and the chance to reshape the roster and have Connor and Drai as foundation stones was too tempting to pass up. Good chance to rehab his resume.
By week two, if there is someone Dave has decided can't cut it right now, they need to trade him for a pick or veteran help immediately.
The roster is thin there, but there's no doubt they have much higher-end talent than Tipp ever had here. D needs a complete overhaul. You can fill the bottom six with the right style of garbage, and Tipp will be able to win games with just McDavid and Drai providing offense, so that actually works for them (or is at least viable) during the cap crunch assuming they fix the defense and goaltending. The hard part for the GM is deciding who gets cut loose to let you go get Tippett's guys to fill out the roster (Well, that and keepong Tipp away from BBQ's with ownership!).
I'm mostly interested in seeing what type of buy-in he gets from "the core". I'm guessing there will be quite a bit of mumbling press conferences complaining that "we just practiced that exact thing" and Hitchcock-esque "the coaching staff cannot want it more than the players" . Even failure won't be entirely on Tipp, because of the current mess, imo. I'm guessing he knows that, and that and the chance to reshape the roster and have Connor and Drai as foundation stones was too tempting to pass up. Good chance to rehab his resume.
By week two, if there is someone Dave has decided can't cut it right now, they need to trade him for a pick or veteran help immediately.