Heaton
Moderator
Howard was a surprise, he was fairly unremarkable for most of his AHL tenure.
The guy most surprised by Sheahan was Babcock, who still doesn't use him in a pk role where he is maybe the best guy on the team. Nyquist, a guy who after one callup got the rare treatment of oversight and forced insertion into the lineup by Holland over Babcock. But on the Sheahan thing, I seem to remember when things were breaking bad post DUI, Holland was supportive in part because he was a good hockey player with a bright future. He is a guy he had nice things to say about when he wasn't scoring at ND and talked about the upside with often. The coach is the only one continuously saying how shocked he is by these kids pace and talent. All the while he has spent his last two off-seasons watching them play a ridiculous amount, you would think that impression would have resonated with him more.
Tootoo, I want a hard body checker with a righty shot - I hate him now
Sammy, I liked using him on the PP, big body righty shot - I hate him now
Bert, he is a big body we like him and he can play with talent - oh wait he can't
Smith, I want him, I want him bad - I don't know how to use him
This cuts the other way too. He wasn't bashful on some of these players. The only one he is winning big on is Weiss in terms of saying hey you are going to have to work more and fit in and he doesn't see it.
I am not overly enthused with Holland lately. But he is a bright guy, I don't see an ideal replacement or upgrade. I don't even mind if Babcock extends, but I am hardly going to cry in my beer if he does not, given what we have in Blashill in my opinion.
These really are first world problems. Nobody stays elite forever, we haven't even fallen that far and look to be climbing back out of it, relax let it play out, the next 12 months are very big to just how quickly we climb the latter.
I don't think it's really possible to have a real debate over who would potentially take over. Nill and Yzerman were only thought of because they've been in the organization forever. Very few people have actual knowledge of outside GM skills. Not to mention the guy to hire the new GM would probably be Holland himself.