Weird flex, but ok...
You know teams do this all the time right? Even the infallible Steve Yzerman tossed out rotten plums like Koekkoek, Dotchin and Barberio after years of development and similarly "successful" (by your measuring stick) rookie campaigns...
Ouellet's sophomore campaign was a train wreck... One that he was paid handsomely in to take a regular 3rd pairing role, which he lost to Luke Witkowski by seasons end... Should Holland have kept him around and given him another kick at the can instead of giving Cholowski or Hronek extended time at the NHL level?
Was it also inept to throw Cory Emmerton away like a brown banana to give Joakim Andersson a regular role after 7+ years of development? Were you sad?
I won't tell you how to hockey fan, but you're gonna be better at it if you don't base opinions on Jeff Blashill's player usage.
That Blashill played Witkowski, his hunting and fishing guide, over Ouellet, had very little to do with anyone's on-ice play.
When you're a rebuilding team, and you've got 23 and 24 year olds struggling to get to get in the lineup while overpaid veterans lead the charge into the cellar, the answer isn't to dump the 23 and 24 year olds.
Anyway. here's how Ouellet ranked in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
You look at the numbers and tell me if Ouellet was a train wreck.
16-17 - As a rookie:
* tied for second in 5 on 5 points.
* third in in even-strength points/60 - more than Marchenko (another guy cut too soon), Ericsson, Kronwall, Dekeyser and Smith.
* 2nd in CF%
* 2nd in GF%
* 2nd in goals against/60.
So, somehow, after a pretty decent rookie season, he gets completely thrown out of the lineup. Despite rarely getting regular minutes and despite having a mom with a terminal illness, Ouellet in 2017-18:
* Second in points/60, better than Jensen, Kronwall, Dekeyser, Ericsson, Daley
* Second in CF% - better than Dekyser, Kronwall, Green, Ericsson and Daley.
* Second best GF%, better than Ouellet, Green, Daley, Kronwall, Jensen and Ericsson.
So, when you say Ouellet had a "train wreck" of a sophomore season... my goodness.
If he did, what does that say about the all the defensemen that Blashill decided to play more often?
And look, I don't think XO was ever going to be anything special.
But if he was still here playing today, we probably don't need Nemeth.
We've got homegrown XO being our 2 or 3LD until Cholowski/McIsaac are ready to take the job from him.
But even if you disagree with that.
Tell me, what have we gained with Trevor Daley?
And don't be condescending with this "infallible Yzerman" stuff.
I don't think Yzerman is infallible. I've never pretended he was.
I think it's quite possibly he f***ed up our first two picks of the draft, based on the scouting reports I've seen, limited play I've seen, and Yzerman's track record. (I also think based on our picks and Yzerman's track record, that we might have a later round steal)
I think Yzerman is a better GM for the modern era than Holland has been for the last 10 years. But your comparison of Holland trading away/waiving young guys to Yzerman doesn't make sense.
Yzerman was a cup favorite, juggling assets to keep a cap-tight team in contention.
Holland had a bloated lottery team.