Last off-season Babcock asked for Right handed shots, more speed, a scorer capable of playing in the top 6 and players who are difficult to play against.
Bert when healthy fits the last 2 categories, Sammy is a Right handed shot who can play in the top 6 when needed and Tootoo fits 3 of those categories.
I think they were all players Babs wanted or the closest available to what he wanted and they just didn't work out how he and Holland likely hoped.
We really have no idea what the inner workings are like between Babcock and management, and considering how well this season has gone compared to what we expected maybe we should all chill out a bit and stop second guessing them.
Agreed and we should also realize that Holland has this team is set up pretty well for the future as well. Despite the lack of trades at the deadline we still have our top prospects and a lot of them are getting a ton of great experience right now. Nyquist, Tatar, Jurco, Jankrok, Frk, Oullett, Sproul, Smith, Mrazek, Shehan, Ferraro, etc are all still in the organization. Dekeyser was a great signing. Brunner could turn out to be a good player for us for a few years if he sticks around.
We also have a great situation with the salary cap and outside of, maybe, Franzens contract, we don't have any terrible contracts on this team. He didnt go blow money on guys like Matt Carle when we missed on Suter. And we will have some money to play with this offseason to pick up scraps from teams shedding salary or to save money for when Datsyuk leaves.
Babcock has done a great job with this team, but Holland also had a part in assembling it too.