Around the NHL — Episode XLXVI

[Loach]

People need to re-focus themselves. We have a young team that we now need to work with and re-stock the cupboards, but it's not all doom and gloom with the new management and owner. I really never want to hear the name Dorion again lol

I want to hear him again in an interview. In a book. He shouldn't be allowed to slink off and disappear.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

I want to hear him again in an interview. In a book. He shouldn't be allowed to slink off and disappear.

I'm all in for a documentary of Melnyk's ownership period, particularly the insane last 7-10 years. It would surely be entertaining.

 

[Loach]

I'm all in for a documentary of Melnyk's ownership period, particularly the insane last 7-10 years. It would surely be entertaining.

Yup. It was almost a singular event. I don't know other sports in depth enough to have a front office/ownership comparable. Steinwhatever for the Yankees, DallasCowboys guy....? Care to take a run at it? Lol.

 

[SpezDispenser]

I want to hear him again in an interview. In a book. He shouldn't be allowed to slink off and disappear.

Oh yeah, that's different.

 

[BondraTime]

Sens never added a single young core RFA player with any kind of term under Dorion. Closest thing was Demelo with the Sharks, Duclair with the BJ's, and Joseph with the Lightning.

Mind you, they were rebuilding from 2017/2018 on.

They added Norris and the picks for Stu and Grieg. That's it.

And the picks that they got were wasted outside of those two were wasted on guys like JBD and Thomson, or the Duchene trade. Now we lose one because Dorion can't follow a simple trade procedure.

Two forced trades to speed up a rebuild to try and save your GM gig that unsurprisingly blew up in our faces that threw out two high 1sts, thre 2nds and a 3rd.

It was quite literally one of the most botched rebuilds you could possibly have.

 

[Micklebot]

Sens never added a single young core RFA player with any kind of term under Dorion. Closest thing was Demelo with the Sharks, Duclair with the BJ's, and Joseph with the Lightning.

Mind you, they were rebuilding from 2017/2018 on.

They added Norris and the picks for Stu and Grieg. That's it.

And the picks that they got were wasted outside of those two were wasted on guys like JBD and Thomson, or the Duchene trade. Now we lose one because Dorion can't follow a simple trade procedure.

Two forced trades to speed up a rebuild to try and save your GM gig that unsurprisingly blew up in our faces that threw out two high 1sts, thre 2nds and a 3rd.

It was quite literally one of the most botched rebuilds you could possibly have.

Pretty much every major acquisition outside of Giroux didn't pan out.

Picked up Dadonov, had to trade him away after one year
Picked up Murray, had to pay to dump him
We pick up Cam Talbot, he sucks and refuses to re-sign
Picked up DeBrincat, he immediately wanted out
Picked up Chychrun, he was a brutal fit.

Add to that losing Formenton to his bad choices, and that's a lot of missed opportunity.

Just imagine if;
Instead of Dadonov we landed Toffoli
Instead of Murray we get Markstrom
Instead of DeBrincat we get Fiala
Instead of Chychrun we get Marino.

Maybe some weren't willing to come here or their team didn't want what we had to offer, and that's why we ended up with the guys we ended up with, but some of it was just poor choices.

 

[Xspyrit]

Lane Hutson not really being a key cog for the Habs just shows how much depth they have. He would be a top 3 prospect for us.

He was clowning NHLers in some of his shifts last year, still a lot to work on, but if he hits the upside is high. And if he doesn't they don't really take that much of a hit.

He would be our #1, based on all the rankings I have seen so far, people have Hutson as the better prospect than Yakemchuk. Lane is 1.5 years older though

It's depressing how much better the Habs are doing at fast tracking their rebuild compared to what we did under Dorion.

Hughes added cheap young RFAs like Dach and Newhook who could be under the team's control for many years, and weaponized his cap space by getting paid to take on a 26YR old potential PPG winger in Laine.

Meanwhile Dorion traded for DeBrincat and Chychrun. Better players but they only had 2-3 years of team control. Ended up losing an insane amount of value selling low on them after renting them for a year.

And don't forget what they did with Monahan... Also his firesale trades (Toffoli, Lehkonen, Chariot, Kulak) were pretty good

Dorion had promising firesale too (like Dzingel) but in the end, only Karlsson and Pageau trades were profitable. We barely got anything left from Stone, Duchene, Brassard (Zibanejad), etc. Then add the Chychrun and DeBrincat fiascos (+ Dadonov)

That is WHERE it HURTS badly

3 years ago we looked like a potential powerhouse and they had one of the worst futures of any team in the league. Now I think the consensus would be that they are in a better position than us going forward. Pretty sad.

Can't stress enough about this. 3 years ago, we were light years ahead and now I think we can say that they have passed us. It is pretty incredible what COMPETENCE VS INCOMPETENCE can do.

 

[Hale The Villain]

It's not like it should surprise anyone though. We all called it. We knew he was in over his head years before the worst even came to light and he showed that basically from day 1 with some pretty questionable moves. He was a terrible GM.

I recall getting into many many arguments over his long tenure with a lot of people around here who defended him and cautioned patience.

It's only once he was fired that everyone was in agreement on how bad of a manager he was.

He would be our #1, based on all the rankings I have seen so far, people have Hutson as the better prospect than Yakemchuk. Lane is 1.5 years older though



And don't forget what they did with Monahan... Also his firesale trades (Toffoli, Lehkonen, Chariot, Kulak) ere pretty good

Dorion had promising firesale too (like Dzingel) but in the end, only Karlsson and Pageau trades were profitable. We barely got anything left from Stone, Duchene, Brassard (Zibanejad), etc. Then add the Chychrun and DeBrincat fiascos (+ Dadonov)

That is WHERE it HURTS badly

Hughes is definitely an above-average trading GM. Tends to get really good value in trades, which is really where a GM delivers most value for his team.

I'd also add swapping Petry for Matheson to that list of impressive moves. Got a lot of heat for that at the time but Matheson has blossomed into a clear top 4 D for them, while Petry may not have many seasons left in him at this point.

Was calling for Dorion to weaponize our cap space like Hughes has done for Montreal, but instead he kept wasting it on dumb acquisitions. Left so much value on the table.

 

[GCK]

I recall getting into many many arguments over his long tenure with a lot of people around here who defended him and cautioned patience.

It's only once he was fired that everyone was in agreement on how bad of a manager he was.

I was always curious how Dorion could perform without Melnyk sabotaging everything. Turns out after Melnyk died Dorion’s results got worse.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Yup. It was almost a singular event. I don't know other sports in depth enough to have a front office/ownership comparable. Steinwhatever for the Yankees, DallasCowboys guy....? Care to take a run at it? Lol.

Good question. I fail to think of much for examples tbh. I'm sure there are some, but Melnyk was a pretty special case and it was compounded not just by his own personality issues, but also running out of money to operate an NHL franchise.

I recall getting into many many arguments over his long tenure with a lot of people around here who defended him and cautioned patience.

It's only once he was fired that everyone was in agreement on how bad of a manager he was.

Lol, somewhat fair, there was a solid contingent here that did seem to think his vision made sense and would have a payoff. Some were adamantly opposed and towed that line for 5 years or so until it became too obvious to dispute.

I drank the kool aid maybe for the first year of his tenure, but I still hated the Zibanejad deal at the time and planted a big seed of doubt right away. Duchene deal/events shortly after sealed it imo. Some of us also could tell the Melnyk situation was spiraling out of control and was getting to the point that any replacement would also be grossly underqualified for the position, the team wasn't being funded to the level an NHL team needs to find success, and they were running a skeleton crew everywhere, so the hope many focused on was for Melnyk to let go of the team, not just replace Dorion. Some seemed to think that was why Dorion performed poorly, but if you paid attention, Dorion did much all on his own to deserve the criticism.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

Sens never added a single young core RFA player with any kind of term under Dorion. Closest thing was Demelo with the Sharks, Duclair with the BJ's, and Joseph with the Lightning.

Mind you, they were rebuilding from 2017/2018 on.

They added Norris and the picks for Stu and Grieg. That's it.

And the picks that they got were wasted outside of those two were wasted on guys like JBD and Thomson, or the Duchene trade. Now we lose one because Dorion can't follow a simple trade procedure.

Two forced trades to speed up a rebuild to try and save your GM gig that unsurprisingly blew up in our faces that threw out two high 1sts, thre 2nds and a 3rd.

It was quite literally one of the most botched rebuilds you could possibly have.

In fairness we do have Ullmark to show for the 2022 draft pick, but yeah, Dorion was a dope.

 

[DJB]

SAN Jose absolutely stole Askarov .

 

[Wallet Inspector]

SAN Jose absolutely stole Askarov .

Nah I'd say it's fair value. Goalies can be weird and Askarov isn't a proven starter yet.

 

[BondraTime]

Edstrom and a 1st is a great return for the Preds

Win/Win trade

 

[Micklebot]

Edstrom and a 1st is a great return for the Preds

Win/Win trade

Idk enough about edstrom but it seems like decent value.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

Now that he will have to play behind San Jose's defense, I wonder if Askarov is checking to see if he can rescind that trade request.

 

[BondraTime]

Idk enough about edstrom but it seems like decent value.

I really like Edstrom, thought he was a steal in 2023 and he looked great this year.

Will be one of the better players in the WJ's this year

 

[Golden_Jet]

I really like Edstrom, thought he was a steal in 2022, and he looked great this year.

Will be one of the better players in the WJ's this year

2023 draft

 

[DJB]

Nah I'd say it's fair value. Goalies can be weird and Askarov isn't a proven starter yet.

A likely late first and a decent prospect for one of the top goaltending prospects in the world. Yes I know goalies are voodoo but that’s an excellent deal for SJ who now have their potential franchise guy.

I like what Grier is doing they have some terrific prospects

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Now that he will have to play behind San Jose's defense, I wonder if Askarov is checking to see if he can rescind that trade request.

Yep. Definitely not a good spot for a young netminder looking to break into the league.

 

[Xspyrit]

It's not like it should surprise anyone though. We all called it. We knew he was in over his head years before the worst even came to light and he showed that basically from day 1 with some pretty questionable moves. He was a terrible GM.

Yeah but there was still some resistance, I remember clearly taking a lot of heat for my Dorion criticism.

Hughes is definitely an above-average trading GM. Tends to get really good value in trades, which is really where a GM delivers most value for his team.

I'd also add swapping Petry for Matheson to that list of impressive moves. Got a lot of heat for that at the time but Matheson has blossomed into a clear top 4 D for them, while Petry may not have many seasons left in him at this point.

Was calling for Dorion to weaponize our cap space like Hughes has done for Montreal, but instead he kept wasting it on dumb acquisitions. Left so much value on the table.

Oh yeah, Matheson too... so many steals and good trades in such a short period of time... we barely had any good moves in 7-8 years with DoDo. Karlsson and Pageau trades, Zub and Giroux signings... that's pretty much it. Even people argued that Paul for Joseph + 4th was good but in the end we downgraded a 3rd to a 4th

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

 

[Xspyrit]

Yeah, the people who self-inflicts the most chaos and destruction always do

 

[Senscore]

There was this kid in 7th grade who once let out a massive loud fart in the middle of class. I will never forget it as long as I live. Full foghorn.

I guess he's living rent free in my mind.

 

[Micklebot]

I think I found our goalie if the future should Ullmark not re-sign,