kilgore Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 12 minutes ago, spook007 said: Yes we needed a rebuild to start around 2013ish but to be fair to JB, Aquilinis did NOT want a rebuild... Gilles wanted a rebuild and got canned... so JB goy hired to do a retool.... He made lots of mistakes, but not doing a rebuild was unlikely one of them... If he had stated we needed to do a rebuild, he would likely have gotten canned too... (which in hindsight might not have been a bad decision). Lottery luck (or lack off) as well as our usual end of season morale victories, was a dagger in the heart, and we are now at the it is, what it is stage... Luckily for us, PA and his scouting team has been very good, and he has not been afraid to pull the trigger... not all has been gold, but he has on average done very good with his trades and shifting of players.... time will tell, if it is possible for him to continue moving players around... We do have players of interest to other teams, so who knows, what he does next... regardless its likely to be box office Yeah, I didn't even mention the sub par drafting during that lost decade. Especially in later rounds. But even with JBs 5, count em, 5 top ten picks he found himself with, only 2 out of the 5 are even playing in the NHL. For top ten picks that is an abysmal result. And we laugh at Edmonton during that same time. JB had problems, gave the team problems, on so many fronts that its hard to keep track of. The difference between this management and the last is not that this management doesn't make mistakes (like the premature OEL buyout), its that for them they make mistakes rarely, as opposed to JB who it was the opposite, he made good decisions rarely. Sometimes I fantasize what would have happened if JR had taken the reigns in 2014. Even IF Aquilini had insisted on a retool, and not a rebuild, I'd venture we'd have done quite a bit better the last 10 years, and be set up quite nicely today. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook007 Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 1 hour ago, kilgore said: Yeah, I didn't even mention the sub par drafting during that lost decade. Especially in later rounds. But even with JBs 5, count em, 5 top ten picks he found himself with, only 2 out of the 5 are even playing in the NHL. For top ten picks that is an abysmal result. And we laugh at Edmonton during that same time. JB had problems, gave the team problems, on so many fronts that its hard to keep track of. The difference between this management and the last is not that this management doesn't make mistakes (like the premature OEL buyout), its that for them they make mistakes rarely, as opposed to JB who it was the opposite, he made good decisions rarely. Sometimes I fantasize what would have happened if JR had taken the reigns in 2014. Even IF Aquilini had insisted on a retool, and not a rebuild, I'd venture we'd have done quite a bit better the last 10 years, and be set up quite nicely today. Yes definitely have to agree on that... Still want another year of JR/PA before I go totally overboard, but I do love, what we've seen so far from them... What makes me happier than anything, is their willingness to change the personal quickly to accommodate the way they want to play... They have number ready in their head, for what they are willing to pay players, given their age and ability, and they have zero fear in dumping them, should they find it beneficial to the team... The first year of JBs drafting was (at least it looked like) a great success... McCann, Demko (2nd rd), Forsling (5th rd) became good NHL'er, and Jake could have been an NHL'er as well as Tryamkin,, The following year it was Brock, Briseboiis (3rd rd), Gaudette (5th rd)... But then it started to head south except for Petey, QH, Hogs (2nd Rd) and Silovs (rd 6)... not sure about Podkolzin or Kim yet... Its not the worst collection, and both Petey and QH have been home runs, but its the weird contracts outside those, that ruined a lot... overpayments and poor recruitment (except Miller)... I was supportive of Benning for a long time, just as I've been for all of them, but the change definite brought a breath of fresh air... Just hope it continues and I think it will... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alflives Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 Have we had a GM win this other than Gillis the great? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip The Mesh Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 Alvin doesn't scare me. That's good. Never knew what was coming with Benning. Did some great things but countered that with some out and out off the wall signings. Oh, let's grab Sam Gagner, see how that works. That man tried so many things, must have been close to a record! Just hope he got out of that Safeway ok when every wanted a word... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBatch Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 (edited) 1 hour ago, Alflives said: Have we had a GM win this other than Gillis the great? If it existed, i'd expect Quin would have won at least one. Probably two, to go with his Jack Adams trophies, two different teams, Toronto would have given him one, because the center of the universe and that team didn't count loser points, and with us, pick your season from the early 90's. Gillis' liked Sundin so much, his first order of business with all the cap shedding, was to offer him 10 x 2!! Crazy right. That's close to 18 today. Imagine that. Yikes. Basically retired. Let's be real, he was great at signing guys, and creating a pro setting, and that's about it. And those guys, were already in the club. Booth and Ballard, is where all that cap savings went. Ironic. Traded one first, and traded for a 9th overall (Nonis was the last GM, to draft anyone of consequence out past the second round in Edler) ... and well at least we got Horfat wallet and Ben Hutton out of six years of drafting right? Gillis was very good at some things, not so good at others. Edited May 28 by IBatch 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBatch Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 1 hour ago, Rip The Mesh said: Alvin doesn't scare me. That's good. Never knew what was coming with Benning. Did some great things but countered that with some out and out off the wall signings. Oh, let's grab Sam Gagner, see how that works. That man tried so many things, must have been close to a record! Just hope he got out of that Safeway ok when every wanted a word... We needed a finisher. Or should I say a swedisher. He's our man. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK-19 Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 Arguably the best season a Canuck GM has had since the cap. Certainly the greatest season-to-season improvement. Gillis did have a great season in 2010-2011 but loses points for trading for Ballard and not selling more of the farm to improve the on-ice team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alflives Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 33 minutes ago, IBatch said: If it existed, i'd expect Quin would have won at least one. Probably two, to go with his Jack Adams trophies, two different teams, Toronto would have given him one, because the center of the universe and that team didn't count loser points, and with us, pick your season from the early 90's. Gillis' liked Sundin so much, his first order of business with all the cap shedding, was to offer him 10 x 2!! Crazy right. That's close to 18 today. Imagine that. Yikes. Basically retired. Let's be real, he was great at signing guys, and creating a pro setting, and that's about it. And those guys, were already in the club. Booth and Ballard, is where all that cap savings went. Ironic. Traded one first, and traded for a 9th overall (Nonis was the last GM, to draft anyone of consequence out past the second round in Edler) ... and well at least we got Horfat wallet and Ben Hutton out of six years of drafting right? Gillis was very good at some things, not so good at others. Gillis was President and GM during our club’s most successful era. The guy did great for us. Now we have JR and PA. They are great too. There was a big black hole of craperolla in between. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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