And it never ceases to amaze how some reinvest history. Booth was acquired to dump an awful Scurm, and put up a respectable 29 points in 53 games before getting his head rocked a second time. His subsequent season would see yet another injury, which proved to be the final nail in his career. Were it not for those injuries, Booth time here would have been much better.
While the goalie fiasco was undeniably Gillis at his worse, he managed to salvage Horvat out of such a disastrous scenario.
Gillis had several flaws, namely his inability to know when not to haggle and pay proper value. But he brought the most success this organization has ever seen; with a great deal of his transactions being of the bargain bin variety that would contribute significantly more than the cost of their acquisition. Benning only wishes to have as much success. Time will tell if he can turn things around.
I'm not denying the pro's of Gillis's tenure here, but it's not like we made the SCF after the first year of his being here. I'm not going to go look it up, but what direction did he look to be driving the bus after one year? We didn't really see much of any direction until he traded for Ehrhoff (one of his best moves).
I'm glad Gillis salvaged Horvat out of that situation, and was going to mention it. I'm also glad Benning pushed WD into playing him.
I wasn't glad when Gillis traded Hodgson, but it turns out he was right. I'm still not glad that Kassian was the return we got.
Gillis's biggest, most glaring, and long term most detrimental con was his drafting. And for all the flack that Benning has gotten for his trades, I do like that the middle picks he's traded have returned depth players / replacements who have room to grow, rather than pylons like Andrew Alberts. (Though, props for Lapierre and Higgins)
Basically, my point is that there are pros and there are cons. This team looked pretty unsettled when Gillis first got here - no one really knew how far the Sedins were going to go, so there was uncertainty there. We just got Luongo. Our D group looked really bleak, and we got nothing for Naslund leaving.
Benning has done some dumb things so far, sure. I think the dumb things are of less consequence than people make them out to be. The good things, I at least hope, will shine through in the long term.
If Bonino turns out for us, if McCann turns out for us, that trade goes from being mediocre in value to good in value.
Trading Garrison for a 2nd was mediocre. Trading that 2nd for Vey looks like a miss, trading for Dorsett was a waste but we may still be able to salvage it.
Trading for Pedan was looking really good for us before he ate that knuckle sandwich. Trading for Baerts looks good so far.
I dunno... people are making a big deal out of nothing. Getting rid of Bieksa and getting a 2nd (rather than the ol' no value for the NTC narrative) mitigated the stupid Sbisa contract a little bit, and the lousy Garrison return a little bit.
Losing Lack suck, but people act like he was nominated to win a Vezina or something around here.
