re: Florida.
I can't get over the fact that Vancouver gave away Gustav Forsling and then the Blackhawks gave him away and then Carolina waived him.
We're only like five cases of players panning out exactly like that from being competitive.
It could happen, guys.
I think the key takeaway here is development. I like how Maurice talks about the changes they made to Rodrigues' game, that E-Rod kept trying to do too much and no one reigned him in, so they told him to just focus on certain aspects of his game that he thrives in and the rest will come and so he did and while he put up similar points to the Pens and Avs, his game was far better overall each game. He wasn't taking dumb penalties and disappearing as often, he was far more visible.
It's where I think Sullivan entirely lacks as a coach, he doesn't like to apparently "scout" players from how they were used before, fine, but then he ignores the strengths and uses them how he thinks they should play and fit and it's one of the more glaring issues with his usage of players, he has no idea how to play to their strengths at all.
But for Forsling, Benning dumped him for Adam Clendening, an 8-9tth defenseman at best in his career. Forsling was developing fine in Linkoping after his draft year, to dump him for some depth plug is like peak Sullivan type of move, but then the Hawks being the Shithawks, didn't really know how to develop any defensemen since. But Forsling playing in Charlotte probably helped him more, playing in the AHL for a full season and getting those minutes in the N.A game not in a pressure cooker like the NHL when you aren't ready, especially Defensemen that notoriously take longer to develop or need more development - Warsofsky (one of the blokes I really wanted as a Pens assistant, same for Carle), did a great job with him there.
You know David Warsofsky, the one that helped Karlsson in San Jose, but David Quinn apparently is getting the credit.
David Quinn - the King Maker, getting credit for Erik Karlsson and I guess Adam Fox, LMAO
Meanwhile Warsofsky was working wonders with the likes of Bean, Forsling, and then helping Karlsson, yet.....Quinn. LOL
We paid a 1st to take on more cap in EK for Granlund and a 2nd to get rid of Petry while retaining.
Any GM could have made those moves.
Any GM probably could have made those moves, maybe given up more, taken on less, etc. But each GM would have targeted a different return, we have the GM that went after Karlsson while keeping the dipshit coach that was tanking the team for years and expecting someone like Karlsson to help fix a problem that can't be fixed via any addition of talent or otherwise.