Some of this might be off topic but they let your post stand so I'll respond.
When LA got Doughty with a 2nd overall pick, was that tanking?
When Chicago got Kane and Toews with picks 1 and 3, was that tanking?
I don't recall the details of those situations but I'm pretty sure Chicago tanked. What I do know for sure is that Pittsburgh definitely lost on purpose and so did Buffalo. But let's be very clear. If Pittsburgh hadn't done it they would have lost their franchise and perhaps Buffalo and Edmonton too, it doesn't justify losing on purpose but those teams are in a totally different situation than the Leafs. The Leafs make so much money that they can lose for 50 years and still sell out and increase shareholder value. The Leafs are the gold standard in financial success and it's simply embarrassing for them to have to tank to get better. They can afford a $50M coach but they can't give him a crack at teaching Kessel? They can afford to continue to pay Carlyle so they dump him to lose on purpose? It's embarrassing.
Trading Kessel was the only way to improve the value of JVR and Bozak. As long as he was around, their production was going to be seen as a product of him. Now, at least they have a chance to show what they can do. Do you think NHL GMs are idiots who only look at point totals to make trades? This isn't NHL 2016.
Wow, now that's a different perspective. If you think that JVR's value is going to go up when he's not with Kessel all that you have to look at is look at Lupul. Kessel made him PPG and now where is he? I agree that Bozak and JVR now have the opportunity to prove themselves but I'll also predict that all the other GM's were able to evaluate them both and that's why the Flyers gave JVR away and why Bozak wasn't drafted. They are both 3rd liners paid way too much.
I don't understand why you think Carlyle was a good coach. Did you see the roster he won a cup with? Dallas Eakins could have won a cup with that roster. He was already on thin ice due to the collapse in game 7, and the collapse at the end of the 2013-2014 season. When he went through a rough patch again in 2014-2015, it made sense to fire the coach with a sustained record of failure. At that point, Horachek looked like a good option to fill his shoes. He had one bad year in Florida, but it was believed he could do better with the more talent on the Leafs roster.
Carlyle took Burkes unfinished team to game 7 that's pretty good. After Carlyle was fired Horachek was infinitely worse and so far (yes it's extremely early) Babcock has a worse record. There's some evidence already to suggest that Carlyle is a good coach. Let's also be clear that the team that Carlyle took to game 7 was much better than last years team. I think he did really well with what Shanahan and Nonis gave him to work with.
As for Babcock which this thread is supposed to be about the jury is still out. It would be totally unfair to judge the teams offensive production under him as they gave away their only first liner BUT you would have expected defensive numbers to improve if Carlyle was such a bad coach with things like the the PK etc. I don't think anyone thinks that Babcock is a horrible coach but I'm pretty sure that we're going to find out that Carlyle was just as good. To be clear, no one could coach this horrible team into the playoffs. It's not Babcocks fault but if he did buy into Shanahans "plan" and if that plan included tanking then Babcock has to take some blame.
I'm also very surprised that people around here aren't more concerned about Babcock's team's playoff performance the last 6 years. Detroit is a perennial top team in the regular season yet he only has 3 playoff round wins in the last 6 seasons. I find that concerning.
If you're saying that anyone could have coached Carlyle's Pronger team to the cup then surely you must agree that anyone could have won the cup with Babcock's Lidstom teams and to only win one cup with that stacked dynasty is actually pretty disappointing.
Said what I meant.
