I mean Walman doesn’t really deserve a grudge. He returned a first for us from a team that’s a ticking time bomb. What happens if McDavid says nope not resigning or Bouchard gets moved or they don’t fix their goaltending? They could easily fall out of the playoffs.
He wasn't, but he was the one who oversaw their entire window of contention
That's a reasonable question but it doesn't even matter in this instance. We were paid to take him so that on its own should be enough to be okay with whatever he brought. He brought a defenseman that at least mirrored the skills of a defensemen our young players need to learn to play with which isn't nothing even if it isn't much. He then returned a 1st round pick. Even if that pick is 32 in 2026, it's a very useful asset for the rebuild. Walman checked every box you could hope for as an acquisition for a rebuilding team. He doesn't need an after-the-fact justification for getting rid of him.
This is like saying Grier "accelerated" our rebuild by acquiring Toffoli, Wennberg, Walman and Ceci. Yzerman and Grier brought their respective veteran plugs in for the same reason: to eat NHL minutes so that prospects don't have to. None of the contracts Yzerman signed his free agents to have prevented him from making other moves. They're also all on eminently tradable contracts, not 7 or 8 year deals with NMCs.
This just isn't true, the teams were in completely different environments when those contracts were signed, both in terms of organizational planning and in terms of the salary cap
You're right, I didn't realize theye were literally seeds 12 and 13 in the lotto, lol
You must have an extremely inflated opinion of Copp, Compher, Chiarot and Holl if you think adding those guys is the reason the Wings are no longer in premium draft pick territory. Especially since the Wings picked 8th overall right before they went on their first free agent spending spree under Yzerman then picked 9th overall the following year. Those guys were just veteran placeholders which every rebuilding team needs after the GM goes scorched earth on the vets he inherited.
I don't think you make a move like that now. A guy coming into that role will typically (even if not immediately) want to change things to his likeness, and it would feel like a demotion for Grier since he'd no longer be in charge. And at this point, for better or for worse, he hasn't had the chance to properly build the team so it would be quite a slap in the face, imo.
No, but Chicago might consider canning Davidson and bringing Blake in.
Forget Yzerman, Blake has turned the Kings into the most "no-man's-land first round fodder" team of all time, no thank you
Why? Blake hasn't proven to be a worthwhile voice in hockey ops.
Yeah it would have to be something Grier is on board with (or at least doesn't threaten to quit over) but it wouldn't be a demotion per se, more of a Sakic/MacFarland situation.
Blake retooled a horrible cap situation and declining roster with no valuable trade chips except for Kopitar and Doughty (who he was basically not allowed to trade) into a perennial playoff team within 3 years. Assuming there was never going to be a proper scorched earth rebuild in LA, I don't know who would have done a better job. I don't see Zito or Brisebois or McCrimmon becoming available anytime soon.
No, Becher is the President of the parent company. The Sharks don’t technically have a President of Hockey Ops currently which basically means that Grier is that guy. I don’t see a reason to bring in someone for him to report to as GM.
Becher is a business guy, even if he tweets about hockey stuff.
I could see Blake brought on as an advisor (and, if things don't go well enough, then promoted to GM or President), but that's it—and even that might signal a weird and unnecessary kind of pressure on Grier which isn't deserved at this point.
He turned them into a treadmill team that will never accomplish anything
