The problem with looking at wins and losses, is that you need to consider how many GMs spent much of their time building a roster up from the ground, when winning games was not only not a priority, but when losing games was a necessary process of gathering top draft choices to build around.
Consider the mindset of A GM who knows he could get more wins and move up your list if he cobbles together a mediocre roster and keeps it going instead of rebuilding a better team that may actually have a chance at winning a championship.
Consider a GM that has managed a team for years that had a crushing on and off ice budget, who’s instructions from ownership was to be at the cap floor, and hopefully below in terms of actual dollars spent.
The numbers don’t tell all the stories, nor are they the be all end all of a GM’s talent in the position, as you seem to be saying.
The numbers are just number without context. It’s like looking at points and assuming that a guy who plays on a good team and has more points is just a better player than a guy who plays on a bad team and has fewer points. Obviously it’s not that simple, and the guy on the bad team very well could be the better player.
Dorion had an aging core that blew up in the locker room and unfortunately he was unable to spend the money necessary to build a team around that core anyways. You’ll note that we still made the playoffs during that time including a trip to game 7 of the ECF.
He turned that Norris winning into one of the best trade hauls of all time, and several other guys netted solid return as well. Stone was unfortunate, but was a story all of its own. We didn’t get a great return because PD was actively trying to keep him up until minutes before the deadline. Was that a mistake? Maybe, but most people still wish we could have found a way to make him stay.
I don’t really agree with you trying to use what PD started with as some sort of watering down of what he was able to turn it into. Every GM starts with something to work with. Yzerman in TBay started with an embarrassment of riches and was able to build around that. Edmonton has two of the best players of our generation, buffalo has multiple 1st OAs, NJ has won the lottery several times… I mean there are lots of GMS that we would have to start knocking down a peg if we start looking at things like this.
To me, it’s what you do with what you have that’s most important, what ever luck and assets you have. I love what has been built to date in Ottawa, and the direction I feel they are headed. That’s all that really matter to me in terms of evaluating the GM. The rest is just noise and NHL soap opera stuff that while entertaining, is just gossip and filler.
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