I was pretty patient in July, and even into August, but I think that the uncertainty around the roster, two young but important players not being in camp, and rumors of players (one specifically) that might be moved to deal with the cap have me at a point of just being flat out frustrated, mad when I start ranting about it, with the front office.
I think being 13 days away from opening night and having these many questions is detrimental to success. Not insurmountable, but it definitely isn't good and it might end up being very bad.
If the plan has been to wait until Day 1 after LTIR'ing Savard and then signing Krug and Smith I think that plan sucks. I think you keep two guys you will need to be successful away from the team because you put yourself in this jam without a good plan to fix it.
I'm actually trying to temper my frustration so my larger points don't get lost in an angry rant, but I just don't think this off-season has been handled well.
Understandable.
It has been a frustrating off season.
I mean if we lose Boychuk and Kelly still plays on this team that is indefensible to me. I will be livid if this happens.
The rumored list of Kelly's teams were not unreasonable and I don't believe there isn't an option there.
The obvious moves, to us anyways, (Kelly or Campbell, Bart, Caron etc.) haven't happened and I don't know why or how much he intends to make that happen.
It makes me nervous not having any idea what his plan is to make this work. Like barely a credible rumor out there.
Part of the reason I've had more patience for it is because I supported Chiarelli overspending last season to give us a better shot at the cup.
It didn't work out. The team wasn't supposed to choke. And now it's time to pay the consequences with nothing to show for it. It makes it a thousand times worse.
I think it's been an incredibly difficult off season for Chiarelli.
We've got a few really good/smart posters here and even they weren't sure how could make it work.
There were very few realistic cap compliant rosters, moves discussed all summer.
A ton of "here's all the players we want to get rid of for the guy we want" stuff.
And I'm sure the other GMs are probably looking at our cap situation and haven't been very helpful as the more desperate he gets, the better for them.
It's very hard having no idea where his head's at and what exactly he's waiting for.
Is it more or less Savard's LTIR or deciding on a bigger move, like if he has no choice but to trade Boychuk to get a top line RW.
It's extremely nerve wracking to have so many unknowns at a critical time in our cup window.
