League News: NHL Talk - (News n' Scores n' Stuff) | 2024-25 Summer Edition
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CapitalsCupReality
It’s Go Time!!
- Feb 27, 2002
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Bettman doesn’t decide what the TV providers are willing to bid. The league has prospered under him more than any other leadership if I were to speculate without any real numbers to rely on.
Corby78
65 - 10 - 20
It doesn’t work out well when you try to force a rapid increase in popularity. You start pandering to the casual fan or people who don’t care at all, and you start to ignore the hardcore base. Look at the mess NASCAR has made of themselves. Went from one of the hottest tickets around to a bland after thought.
hockeykicker
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- Dec 3, 2014
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BMac getting a 2nd for Beck was straight up robbery. I like Beck but that’s a great piece of business.
hockeykicker
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- Dec 3, 2014
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hb13xchamps
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895
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Of course the Oilers jump on that grenade. Lmao.
My hot take aside is that Stan Bowman isn't even that good a GM. The foundation was laid before he got there. I guess that's what EDM needs though.
My hot take aside is that Stan Bowman isn't even that good a GM. The foundation was laid before he got there. I guess that's what EDM needs though.
trick9
Registered User
- Jun 2, 2013
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Calicaps
NFA
Marshall
A Mahoney guy
Yay we get to re-litigate this all over again. Are there even any new hot takes about the situation that have developed since the last time we complained?
I think my first hot take is that if they held the meeting when they did (on the night right after clinching the conference final), Quenneville should not have been in the meeting (due to it being 2 hours after he had won Game 4, and he'd have celebrated with beers). If they wanted Quenneville in the meeting, they should have held it the next morning. I don't think Quenneville says anything about Final distractions if the meeting is the next day.
My second hot take is that if McDonough, instead of burying it for 3 weeks during the Final, had opted for an outside, independent investigation (like the Jenner & Block report), and it had taken the same amount of time to investigate the allegations and create a report to fire Aldrich, nobody would have blinked an eye or raised any objections. [In theory, it should take less than a week, but if it takes a couple days to get contracts signed and assign the associates, then a few more days to conduct the interviews and review the evidence, and finally a couple days to write the report and get the recommendations approved by both parties, it could extend to the 15 business days between May 23 and June 14.] Everybody's annoyed at the burial during the Final, but if McDonough points to the internal investigation, followed by an external investigation that takes 3 weeks, accompanied by a report and resulting in Aldrich's firing, there's no outrage.
I think my first hot take is that if they held the meeting when they did (on the night right after clinching the conference final), Quenneville should not have been in the meeting (due to it being 2 hours after he had won Game 4, and he'd have celebrated with beers). If they wanted Quenneville in the meeting, they should have held it the next morning. I don't think Quenneville says anything about Final distractions if the meeting is the next day.
My second hot take is that if McDonough, instead of burying it for 3 weeks during the Final, had opted for an outside, independent investigation (like the Jenner & Block report), and it had taken the same amount of time to investigate the allegations and create a report to fire Aldrich, nobody would have blinked an eye or raised any objections. [In theory, it should take less than a week, but if it takes a couple days to get contracts signed and assign the associates, then a few more days to conduct the interviews and review the evidence, and finally a couple days to write the report and get the recommendations approved by both parties, it could extend to the 15 business days between May 23 and June 14.] Everybody's annoyed at the burial during the Final, but if McDonough points to the internal investigation, followed by an external investigation that takes 3 weeks, accompanied by a report and resulting in Aldrich's firing, there's no outrage.
Calicaps
NFA
This is nuts. The failure begins with HAVING THE MEETING. Credible allegations of sexual assault should not trigger a "what should we do" meeting. The appropriate response is... Aldrich on leave. Immediate above-board transparent investigation. Aldrich fired and possibly referred to law enforcement. The fact they weren't certain what was most important in that moment is surpassed only by what they chose.
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I'm not saying you're wrong about that conclusion, but I think we have a disagreement about the premise of the meeting. From my reading of the report, the premise of the meeting was to present the results of MacIsaac's internal investigation (none of the higher-ups had any concrete information beyond rumors). It may have devolved into a "what should we do" after the evidence was presented, which I agree is an inappropriate response, but it wasn't like McDonough et al had all the information before MacIsaac's report. If McDonough commits to all of your listed responses during that meeting, how could 'HAVING THE MEETING' be a failure?
The only difference between those responses and my hypothetical external investigation is Aldrich on leave. The conclusion of Aldrich being fired and possibly referred to law enforcement would come at the end of the investigation.
Calicaps
NFA
Fine. I may not recall the exact sequence of events. But regardless, when faced with compelling evidence of assault, they chose to prioritize the wrong thing and to effectively cover up a crime. It's indefensible and should be disqualifying professionally.
- Jun 25, 2018
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Agreed. The roster he inherited is insane, and he basically just babysat the existing core as it won their Cups. It's hard to imagine a GM starting out in a better position to succeed.
At forward, he started out with Toews (21), Kane (21), Versteeg (23), Bickell (23), Ladd (24), Brouwer (24), Sharp (28), Hossa (31, signed right before Tallon was demoted). On defense, Hjalmarsson (21), Seabrook (24), Byfuglien (24), Keith (26), Campbell (30). In net he inherited Crawford (25) and Niemi (26). Leddy was already in the system. Quenneville was already head coach. The team made the conference finals the previous year. If Tallon hadn't messed up submitting QOs to his RFAs that summer and gotten himself demoted, Bowman wouldn't have lucked into the perfect situation.
The biggest pieces Bowman added to any of the three Cup winning rosters he had were by drafting Saad (12th and 8th in scoring on the '13 and '15 teams respectively, traded for scraps after the latter) and signing a 34 year old Brad Richards (6th in scoring on the '15 team). It's honestly kind of impressive how little he managed to contribute to those cup-winning rosters. In fairness he was the AGM while Bolland was building that roster, and I guess you have to give him some credit for keeping the core together, but his big weapon there was the back-diving contracts the league later ruled to be cap circumvention, so he'll need to learn a new trick. Maybe he can convince Nurse to become allergic to his hockey equipment?
His drafting record is very mixed. Early on he made some nice picks (Schmaltz, Hartman, Terravainen, Saad, Danault), but he traded every one of them away before they broke out on other teams, and aside from Hartman the value he got back was terrible in each case. Kinda seems like he was letting the scouting department take their guys but didn't have the trust/patience to just let them develop. Also drafted Kevin Hayes with his first pick as full GM and then failed to sign him. Only guy he kept who broke out as a Blackhawk was DeBrincat. When the team started tanking he finally got to make some picks high in the first round, and he proceded to whiff on Boqvist (8th OA, next D off the board was Evan Bouchard, oof), Dach (3rd OA), and Reichel (17th OA).
And all this is without getting into his role in the cover up. But he's got three Cups on his resume, so back on the job he goes.
I agree with your second sentence completely. I also blame McDonough much more than any of the others in the meeting, because it was his decision to bury it for 3 weeks. To use a different hypothetical, let's say either Bowman or Quenneville had gone to McDonough a week after that meeting, asking about it. Whether it be buried, still in an internal investigation, or still in external investigation, McDonough's response would have been the same 'It's still under investigation, and I can't comment.' How could either of them do anything proactively in the face of that response? They can't just assume McDonough's lying, and he's ultimately the controller of all the information following the meeting.
That's what annoys me about people's responses to the report. There's one clear mistake of not putting Aldrich on leave, but other than that, the timeline from complaint to Aldrich's firing is around what people might expect an HR investigation of a sexual nature to take, about two weeks to a month. There were no red flags raised by anybody else in the room following the firing, because to them 3 weeks is in line with their expectation on how long an in-depth HR investigation might take.
That's what annoys me about people's responses to the report. There's one clear mistake of not putting Aldrich on leave, but other than that, the timeline from complaint to Aldrich's firing is around what people might expect an HR investigation of a sexual nature to take, about two weeks to a month. There were no red flags raised by anybody else in the room following the firing, because to them 3 weeks is in line with their expectation on how long an in-depth HR investigation might take.
Marshall
A Mahoney guy
twabby
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- Mar 9, 2010
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Indifferent on Konecny as a fan and I think that contract is really bad! That makes me happy!
Marshall
A Mahoney guy
ClevelandCapsfan
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Devil Dancer
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g00n
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- Nov 22, 2007
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Kuznetsov joins KHL after split with Hurricanes
Former Carolina Hurricanes center Evgeny Kuznetsov will return to Russia to continue his career, signing a four-year contract with the KHL after a mutual split from the Carolina Hurricanes.
It's done.
- Feb 18, 2018
- 4,447
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Calicaps
NFA
Beside getting a pick for him, I'm glad this happened after he left DC. I'm sure it was already in the works, but it feels better that he left the Canes for the K rather than the Caps.Kuznetsov joins KHL after split with Hurricanes
Former Carolina Hurricanes center Evgeny Kuznetsov will return to Russia to continue his career, signing a four-year contract with the KHL after a mutual split from the Carolina Hurricanes.www.espn.com
It's done.
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