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Around the NHL - Part XLII - (2023-24 Season edition)

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We were underrated until we became the best team in the league. Last year was the outlier boys, not the Conference Finals run.

Also wtf was with that dumbass Christmas themed NHL.com headline? That would make the NY post ridicule them.
 
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I am glad Drury is here running shop now with Lavi. John Davidson is one of the most overrated execs in hockey. His Jackets have no direction. It all starts at the top too. Hire a HC with baggage that burns bridges barely into camp. They hire a puppet HC in Vincent. No wonder we had behind the scenes issues with NYR too for years with Davidson and Gorton here. Gotta wonder what was going on. Jackets suck.
 
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Anthony5967 said:
I am glad Drury is here running shop now with Lavi. John Davidson is one of the most overrated execs in hockey. His Jackets have no direction. It all starts at the top too. Hire a HC with baggage that burns bridges barely into camp. They hire a puppet HC in Vincent. No wonder we had behind the scenes issues with NYR too for years with Davidson and Gorton here. Gotta wonder what was going on. Jackets suck.
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When we hired JD, I was kind of "meh" on the move. I think his career in the front office has been quite a mixed bag. And maybe that's true for most guys that have been around for a while, but he was hardly the messiah some people seemed to expect/hope for. I was also okay with getting rid of him when we did although the whole situation was admittedly handled awkwardly.
 
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nyr2k2 said:
When we hired JD, I was kind of "meh" on the move. I think his career in the front office has been quite a mixed bag. And maybe that's true for most guys that have been around for a while, but he was hardly the messiah some people seemed to expect/hope for. I was also okay with getting rid of him when we did although the whole situation was admittedly handled awkwardly.
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It was handled awkwardly because Davidson and Gorton weaseled to the league and other execs to save face and said they had nothing to do with the letter. Way to stand by your organization, $81M superstar, and the hand that feeds you in Dolan. All Davidson kept preaching was patience, patience, as they rolled out soft teams with weak leadership from top to bottom each year. Yea, Dolan may have irrationally fired them but this team hasn't looked back.
 
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Baby Duck Homme said:
www.nhl.com

NHL Tonight: Power Rankings | NHL.com

Bruce Boudreau gives his top five team power rankings
www.nhl.com www.nhl.com

I guess Bodreau can hear us now.
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Boudreau was given the perfect wrestling/comic book arc to go from a hated villain around here, to a sympathetic figure with the way Vancouver publicly shamed him last year. I mean if any of you saw him at Yankee Stadium (as Sam Rosen has mentioned many times he is a huge Yankees fans and tries to get to at least one game an offseason), tell me you wouldn't buy him a drink and sit down and talk hockey with him for at least 10 minutes.
 
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Anthony5967 said:
It was handled awkwardly because Davidson and Gorton weaseled to the league and other execs to save face and said they had nothing to do with the letter. Way to stand by your organization, $81M superstar, and the hand that feeds you in Dolan. All Davidson kept preaching was patience, patience, as they rolled out soft teams with weak leadership from top to bottom each year. Yea, Dolan may have irrationally fired them but this team hasn't looked back.
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The million dollar question for me is the following: was Dolan aware of all the prospect issues going on behind the scenes and the state of Hartford. Did he care? Was that the origin of the firings and the Tom Wilson thing the cherry on top?

We've talked about it here numerous times how there was a general sense of disorganization and terrible character drafting during Gorton's tenure. At least 7-8 prospects quit on the team or had behind the scenes incidents. Even ones who were traded away had major attitude issues.

Drury isn't going to be the life of the party, but all signs are pointing to him and John Lilley having better drafts, and overall more emotional intelligent players. You look at Adam Sykora and Brett Berard as textbook examples. Even Othmann who a lot of us were worried about because he was known to be kind of a loose cannon in juniors, he seems to only be a PITA on the ice and not causing any trouble in Hartford.
 
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Roo Returns said:
The million dollar question for me is the following: was Dolan aware of all the prospect issues going on behind the scenes and the state of Hartford. Did he care? Was that the origin of the firings and the Tom Wilson thing the cherry on top?

We've talked about it here numerous times how there was a general sense of disorganization and terrible character drafting during Gorton's tenure. At least 7-8 prospects quit on the team or had behind the scenes incidents. Even ones who were traded away had major attitude issues.

Drury isn't going to be the life of the party, but all signs are pointing to him and John Lilley having better drafts, and overall more emotional intelligent players. You look at Adam Sykora and Brett Berard as textbook examples. Even Othmann who a lot of us were worried about because he was known to be kind of a loose cannon in juniors, he seems to only be a PITA on the ice and not causing any trouble in Hartford.
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Very well-said. More of a focus on drafting North American too, which, I don't want to sound like that's everything but they drafted way too many soft Euros, both emotionally and physically, Who conducted those pre-draft interviews with Kravtsov, Andersson, and others?
 
Anthony5967 said:
Very well-said. More of a focus on drafting North American too, which, I don't want to sound like that's everything but they drafted way too many soft Euros, both emotionally and physically, Who conducted those pre-draft interviews with Kravtsov, Andersson, and others?
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Clark and Bobrov probably handled the heavy lifting and welp...neither of them are psychologists or social workers.

I think it's been more of a 60/40 NA to Euro split. I'm indifferent as long as the players can skate, have some emotional intelligence, and can excel in one area. Olas, Chlemar, Larsen are players who could turn into something down the road and just need time to marinate. I'm not going to include Edstrom or Sykora who are already doing fine in Hartford.
 
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Anthony5967 said:
It was handled awkwardly because Davidson and Gorton weaseled to the league and other execs to save face and said they had nothing to do with the letter. Way to stand by your organization, $81M superstar, and the hand that feeds you in Dolan. All Davidson kept preaching was patience, patience, as they rolled out soft teams with weak leadership from top to bottom each year. Yea, Dolan may have irrationally fired them but this team hasn't looked back.
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Couldn’t agree more. This was apparent even at the time with the Wilson incident.
 
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McRanger92 said:
Couldn’t agree more. This was apparent even at the time with the Wilson incident.
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Dolan didn't even irrationally fire them! They let the team get run the f*** over for literally years, well past the "accumulate talent without regard to fit" phase. Both JD and Gorton were neglectful in not rectifying a culture where guys didn't stand up for one another.
 
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effen said:
Dolan didn't even irrationally fire them! They let the team get run the f*** over for literally years, well past the "accumulate talent without regard to fit" phase. Both JD and Gorton were neglectful in not rectifying a culture where guys didn't stand up for one another.
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Thankfully, this isn't an issue anymore. Team culture is extremely important. If guys don't have each other's backs, you aren't winning in hockey, ever.
 
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Andersson was strike one. Kravtsov strike 2. The Wilson Panarin incident was 3. You can't come out publicly, say you're rebuilding, and whiff on three consecutive top 10 picks (I'm including Kakko).

If not for Fox forcing his way here like a godsend and having Igor fall out of the clear blue sky, we would be talking about weather this is the year we finally make the playoffs again after a 7 year drought. And no, I don't count the COVID cup of 2020.
 
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Anthony5967 said:
I am glad Drury is here running shop now with Lavi. John Davidson is one of the most overrated execs in hockey. His Jackets have no direction. It all starts at the top too. Hire a HC with baggage that burns bridges barely into camp. They hire a puppet HC in Vincent. No wonder we had behind the scenes issues with NYR too for years with Davidson and Gorton here. Gotta wonder what was going on. Jackets suck.
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I don’t agree. JD laid the groundwork for Saint Louis to go on their run and win it all. He also turned Columbus from a complete dumpster fire to an organization with some direction and playoff success, the first time around at least. lately he hasn’t been good, but I think it’s foolish and wrong to claim his initial tenure as an executive as bad. he’s also one of thd great hockey minds living today well respected by basically everyone involved with the game.
 
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