Frank Seravalli " Worst GM Award , Jarmo Kekalainen, Mike Grier a close 2nd" Agree or disagree?

LOFIN

Registered User
Sep 16, 2011
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That trade only looks bad on the surface. Every side factor went against him. NMC, high salary, long term, aging player. It was an impossible trade to truly win
It was possible to extract more value by retaining more
 

Mr Positive

Cap Crunch Incoming
Nov 20, 2013
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It was possible to extract more value by retaining more
Sure, but why didn't he?

I'm guessing it was perhaps out of hands. Getting ownership to pay potentially half of that huge deal might have been a deal breaker. But I don't know. I just know that all it is for a GM are pieces on a game board, then why wouldn't Grier just throw all the money away?
 

Cubs2024wildcard

America F YEAH!!!
Apr 29, 2015
8,093
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Kyle Davidson is the worst GM in all of sports.

Trades a superstar (DeBrincat) for a draft pick then rushes said draft pick to the NHL where he's completely over his head.

Trades a first line talent in Brandon Hagel who scores 30 goals for two warm bodies and two draft picks, one of whoms ceiling is the Wish version of.....Brandon Hagel.

Has a player the media anointed as generational fall into his lap, then signs a cancer (Corey Perry), a once great player who's body is made out of ice cream cone wafer (Taylor Hall) and a bunch of washed up fourth liners to teach said generational talent how to win when actual winners (Toews, Kane) were shot into another dimension.

If Kyle Davidson didn't have this job, he wouldn't have another job anywhere in the NHL other then as a Starbucks fetcher for a capable GM.
 

canuckslover10

Registered User
Apr 10, 2014
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Most Black people and people of color always know we have to be 2x as good to be considered as good as a white man. Grier being there as a "close 2nd" is dumb as bricks.

Like San Jose has had some bad contracts and their rebuild was always going to take time. Are people too dumb to recognize this.
 

Boss Man Hughes

Registered User
Mar 15, 2022
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Most Black people and people of color always know we have to be 2x as good to be considered as good as a white man. Grier being there as a "close 2nd" is dumb as bricks.

Like San Jose has had some bad contracts and their rebuild was always going to take time. Are people too dumb to recognize this.
All irrelevant. He should be judged on the moves he has made so far. Of course it is difficult for outsiders to know how much owners interfere in decisions and how cheap they are.
 

TruePowerSlave

Registered User
Jun 27, 2015
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That’s a pretty wild take. Colorado would be one of the last teams on my list.
Too early to tell, but the Avs are primed to repeat their cheap approach and make another contending season irrelevant.

Ever since the Avs became contenders, pretty much the moment Makar arrived, they went for it once. That´s not a good look.
 
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paragon

Registered User
May 5, 2010
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Jarmo should have been fire instantly after the Babcock debacle and for his failure to address coaching since Torts was gone. He could have hired Jalonen, but keeps choosing medium risk low reward coaches. The team was already in turmoil after the Babcock disaster, should have fired Jarmo that instant and be done with it. Let the new GM choose his own coach.
 

kevsh

Registered User
Nov 28, 2018
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The award should probably be called the "GMs that were the least friendly/meanest to me and/or refused to give me 'inside' info so now I'm making up a ridiculous award to pay them back because I'm a petty little man" award.

Admittedly the name of the award isn't as catchy as Frank's.
 

canuckslover10

Registered User
Apr 10, 2014
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All irrelevant. He should be judged on the moves he has made so far. Of course it is difficult for outsiders to know how much owners interfere in decisions and how cheap they are.
How is it irrelevant? You don't think race plays a role with subconscious decisions, like at what aspects has Grier failed, he has the worst starting position I can think of. He was given bloated contract after bloated contract.

So infuriating and dumb of you to call it irrelevant as if race isn't the obvious elephant in the room.

All I'm gonna say is it's typical.
 
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Anglesmith

Setting up the play?
Sep 17, 2012
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Grier is in a situation similar to Jay Feaster was in Calgary. He's been given a team with a bunch of old guys and general contract inflexibility and will be dealing from a place of weakness for several years while trying to undo it. He will likely be fired for lack of progress just as the team is ready to actually start growing, because that's how hockey teams operate.

There really isn't anything to assess him poorly for at this point unless Seravalli was one of those media folks anointing Pittsburgh as born again cup contenders with Karlsson back in the summer and decrying Grier for not getting more.
 

Frankie Blueberries

Dream Team
Jan 27, 2016
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Isn't most of the Canucks current build from Benning? Guy certainly didn't bat 1.000 on his moves but if you're enjoying the Canucks this season how can you not ease up on the guy?
He spent to the cap every season, traded away more picks than he received, and finished bottom 5-10 almost every year despite being GM for almost a decade. He had the current core in their prime and wasted some of their years. We were never going to be competitive under him.
 

Anglesmith

Setting up the play?
Sep 17, 2012
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He spent to the cap every season, traded away more picks than he received, and finished bottom 5-10 almost every year despite being GM for almost a decade. He had the current core in their prime and wasted some of their years. We were never going to be competitive under him.
There is an assumption there that this core could have played better with different moves.

End of the day the team isn't doing as well as they are this year because of Patrick Allvin. It could just be the right fit with the coach, or it could just be the players all finally maturing their game at the same time. Benning definitely made objectively bad moves, but he built a core that is apparently one of the best in the league in spite of that. And this isn't to say that the GM change wasn't a good idea or someone else couldn't have done his job better, it's just to point out that it could have been a whole lot worse.

I think there is an expectation from fans that teams must progress monotonically from rock bottom to Cup winners, but that really isn't borne out by examples. The Canucks have had a fairly typical progression from bottom feeders to plucky upstarts to bubble team with growing pains to contender. The Flames had a very similar story (cut short by losing two core players in one summer of course). Both teams have done better than the Oilers. And on down the list. I'd say most teams experience this same story in some fashion when they rebuild, but everyone wants the Chicago arc.
 

Frankie Blueberries

Dream Team
Jan 27, 2016
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Nope

Eriksson 6x6

Beagle and Roussel 3mil x 4 years

Juolevi over Tkachuk

Virtanen over Nylander/Ehlers

9th overall + 2nd for OEL (bought out) and Garland (overpaid on his next contract)

33rd overall (our scouts apparently liked DeBrincat) + McCann (40 goal scorer) for Gudbranson and then signing him to a 4mill x 3 year contract

Forsling for Clendening

Let Tanev and Toffoli walk as UFAs in favour of signing Holtby and Virtanen

2nd round picks for Vey, Baertschi

Sutter trade and unearned huge contract extension

Not trading pending UFAs when the team was eliminated from contention like Hamhuis, Vrbata, Ryan Miller, etc.

A ridiculous amount of 3rd/4th round picks traded for trash (Pedan, Larsen, Dickinson - bought out, etc).


These are just off the top of my head.


There is an assumption there that this core could have played better with different moves.

End of the day the team isn't doing as well as they are this year because of Patrick Allvin. It could just be the right fit with the coach, or it could just be the players all finally maturing their game at the same time. Benning definitely made objectively bad moves, but he built a core that is apparently one of the best in the league in spite of that. And this isn't to say that the GM change wasn't a good idea or someone else couldn't have done his job better, it's just to point out that it could have been a whole lot worse.

I think there is an expectation from fans that teams must progress monotonically from rock bottom to Cup winners, but that really isn't borne out by examples. The Canucks have had a fairly typical progression from bottom feeders to plucky upstarts to bubble team with growing pains to contender. The Flames had a very similar story (cut short by losing two core players in one summer of course). Both teams have done better than the Oilers. And on down the list. I'd say most teams experience this same story in some fashion when they rebuild, but everyone wants the Chicago arc.
I don’t want to re-type out my earlier post on why Benning was one of the worst GMs of the cap era, so I quoted it above. The quote above are just spark notes, he did a stupid amount of damage to this franchise.
 

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