Management Rate Staios so far

[GCK]

My only complaint so far was not buying out Hamonic.

The Joseph trade is not about just clearing cap space IMO, it seems obvious they wanted him removed from the group, why, I don’t know.

 

[dumbdick]

Too soon

 

[BigRig4]

The Ullmark trade was an A+
Everything else was a Cish.

I’d say roughly a B overall. The skaters are roughly the same but the goaltending is massively improved.

 

[Micklebot]

If I judge him on the end product (our roster right now), I think I'm pretty pleased, I had zero expectations of landing Ullmark and getting out from Korpisalo for example, and I like the look of what he's put together. Obviously how this roster performs will be what matters but so far I like what I'm seeing.

If I am to grade each move we made to get here, it's a bit different, there are moves I love and moves I question. I like Amidio, but in the context of it necessitating paying a 3rd to dump Joseph, well that's not something I'd ever have done. Similarly, I'm disappointed with the return for Chychrun, but happy with the new look Blueline.

The reality is there are some oddities in the market that as a fan are tough to understand, Bondratime pointed out the descepancy between the Jeannot trade return and the Joseph trade, makes no sense to me, but the market dictates what you can do, sometimes you're on the right side of it (Ullmark) other times you aren't (Chychrun, Joseph).

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

The true measure will be whether (or not) the Senators sit in a Playoff spot, at some point between the 1st of December, and the Christmas break.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

My only complaint so far was not buying out Hamonic.

The Joseph trade is not about just clearing cap space IMO, it seems obvious they wanted him removed from the group, why, I don’t know.

Perhaps leaving some cap wiggle room gives us a bit of an upper hand in the next few weeks as teams try to get under the cap? Pretty hard to make a trade or get value when it has to be dollar in, dollar out, or losing dollars and gaining quality, to be cap compliant.

This way no one can put a gun to our head between now and training camp.

And yes, I do think all the moves so far have also had a culture change element to them. I'm not sure what the issue with Joseph would be, though. He's somewhat inconsistent, most pretty much all skilled 3rd liners are (which is why they're 3rd liners and not top 6 guys).


...that would be my best guess, anyway.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

6.5/10.

 

[Butchy Dakkar]

I’m voting based on optimism and being methodical and professional so far.

I’d like to vote again half way through the season.

 

[StoneHoffs129]

I give him an a+, the amount of work he has had to put in just to clean up some of dorions mess is insane. No gm is coming in at a first Crack and doing better.

 

[Micklebot]

Let's play a game of "Which GM did this?"

1. Traded a 1RP for a player on an expiring contract before they even discussed a contract extension.

Difference being that the team (Alfie) apparently had talked to the player, and the player knew they were getting move. DBC thought he was in chi long term plans. We also paid a rental price on Ullmark, not 7OA, There's lots of context missing here

2. Signed a scoring winger to a big enough contract that it put us in a cap bind to sign Pinto.

I believe Pinto's contract fits even without moving Joseph, moving Joseph just gives us the flexibility to make other moves. Your creating a false equivalency, again

3. That scoring winger signing means we had to pay to unload Joseph, instead of recouping an asset.

No, see above.

4. Made a pretty significant reach at the draft with our 1RP, taking a guy at 7 who was consensus ranked in the mid-teens.

Not a reach, this ignores the context of this draft where Bob was very clear about how little concencus there actually was, another false equivalency

5. Offloaded a 26yo top 4 D, who has another 8 years of NHL-quality play in him, for a guy who will be 34 when the season starts and has 2, maaaaaaybe 3, more years of NHL-quality play in him.

I agree here, we move a good player in Chychrun, who unfortunately was a very bad fit for this roster. I'd have gathered we'd gone for futures and found a UFA to fill the RHD role, but it appears as though none of the RHD UFA were available to us.

6. Talked about adding veterans and experience to the lineup in the lead up to the offseason and the only guy he brought in who fits that description is Perron, who more or less is exactly the same thing Tarasenko brought the year before.

This is purely false, you even reference the other vet in your previous post, we added Perron and Jensen, two vets that can play. We also added Ullmark who is a vet, albeit not in a position typically looked to for leadership. Amidio is another guy with almost 400 games and a Stanley Cup ring where he played a contributing role with 10 pts in 16 games,

Here's the thought exercise: assign the rating if the GM's name is Staios and then do it again if the GM's name was Dorion. Let's see how closely they align.

Should they align? When you strip out the context, perhaps, but if you're being honest about the evaluation, stripping the context makes the exercise useless

 

[Cosmix]

I would not rate the Ullmark deal as an "A".

If Ullmark had agreed prior to the trade to extend here or extends after the trade (still time for this to be done), I would consider it an "A".

Right now it is a risky trade for 1 year of a very good goaltender who will become a UFA soon. It cost us the #25 draft pick, a roster player (4th liner) and an over-paid backup goaltender.

 

[h2]

draft, we definitely left some name value on the board with our picks based upon mock drafts but its too early to say, have to give it 2-3 years to see if the picks actually become nhlers or busts

Where does this notion come from?

The only pick that you can say was a reach was in the 2nd round. That's 1 pick out of all our selections made.

Even then, who cares? Reaches in the 2nd round are common. Sometimes taking the unpopular pick works and you get a Pinto (everyone wanted Kaliyev), and sometimes you get Ben Rogers.

I would not rate the Ullmark deal as an "A".

If Ullmark had agreed prior to the trade to extend here or extends after the trade (still time for this to be done), I would consider it an "A".

Right now it is a risky trade for 1 year of a very good goaltender who will become a UFA soon. It cost us the #25 draft pick, a roster player (4th liner) and an over-paid backup goaltender.

Even without an extension, the value is still there in getting rid of Korpi even if Ullmark walks. I see this trade as win-win regardless. Obviously I hope the extension happens though.

 

[LuckyPierre]

Staios has added 3 Stanley Cup winners to the group, as well as the 2023 Vezina winner in goal, and a new coaching staff with experience. That's a tremendous step forward.

Although there didn't seem to be a major infusion of talent, the turnover of our bottom six was a must. I can think of a few on their way out who did not give an honest, consistent effort. New coach and personnel will lead to a harder working, more focused group. As far as bottom six talent, it can be built up further in the seasons to come when there is more cap flexibility, and as certain prospects develop and graduate.

Staios has also partially reversed the left/right, offense/defense imbalance that plagued our blueline. Depth remains a concern, so he still has more work to do. But with Chychrun gone, roles are better defined, including the power plays.

I remain curious to see how defensive depth is further shored, and how the penalty kill units take shape. For this group to be playoff calibre, I believe both GA/G and PK% have to improve dramatically. As in from bottom 5 to top 10. Tall task, but at least for this season, we have the goalie in place, so anything is possible.

Overall, he's going about this in the right way, and I'm generally receptive to the moves made. If Ullmark extends, I'm thrilled.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Korpisalo was an albatross and he was able to bring back one of the best available tenders in return that I'm confident will sign long term, so he gets an A from me for that deal. Even without the extension, getting out from Korpisalo's deal was priority 1 for the summer.

The rest is a little harder to swallow value wise, but I like the look of it with the final product.

Another positive is they're investing in Belleville which should pay dividends.

I do hope he has something left up his sleeve to re-enforce the depth. Kleven/Hamonic/JBD as the bottom 3 makes me a bit nervous.

 

[Masked]

His moves so far seem to be putting the core into a position to succeed. Give them veterans to learn from, give them a goalie they can depend on, and improving the locker room culture.

Guys like Perron, Jensen and Amadio aren't what's going to propel the team as a Cup contender. It's getting Brady, Stutzle, Sanderson, Batherson, Pinto and Chabot to be the best they can be that will do that.

The core is the core. Not much of a chance you can make trades that will upgrade it, so want to develop a locker room culture like the teams that make the playoffs every year have. Instill it in the core and then have the core instill it in the young players they'll be bringing in down the road.

 

[h2]

I think he's done a fine job so far and the team does look more competitive and properly balanced.

It's hard to give a fair rating thus far when all the actual trades made by Steve are correcting mistakes by the previous GM that involved enormous cost to acquire which made asset management look bad in hindsight.

I think he's done better than I expected overall with those difficult parameters in place before he started.

 

[Blotto71]

Anyone think that all the additions of Stanley Cup winners is not just to help the players but the coaching staff as well? After all, neither Green nor Yeo (nor Alfie, for that matter) have won any Cups - the vets plus Martin should be able to help team Green be all that they can be.

 

[Tuna99]

i think that the LOSP guys are on July 3 talking Halliday and Ostapchuk battling out for the 12 forward spot and to us fans that seems realistic and two good options for the team one day - it shows how Staois has turned the team around so quickly with a clarity of vision the fans can follow.

Scary thing is Staois has bet on the players that are already here to get it done and they haven’t come close to being a playoff team yet. Chabot has a partner, now get the job done. We have Ulmark - save the pick. Brady has veteran leadership around him, win. We changed the entire PK team, better be good. Forsberg and Ulmark were teammates before and won together, heard that one before with Korpisalo and they played like they were 19 again. Everything is unproven and we’re betting on guys who want to do (and will do it these guys are like a pack of hyenas now and they’ll turn into a pride of lions) so it’s easy to think the moves won’t work. Bet on a team that doesn’t give you much space, competes and has excellent goaltending and the type of Travis Green attitude you don’t want to meet in round 1.

 

[SENStastic]

Doesn't have too much body of work to go off, but so far, completely underwhelming and mediocre. We went from playoff expectations to hopefully we can improve a bit from bottom 10 finish next year by adding a few aging vets that wont even be part of the team in a couple years and wont be a building block to any future competitive roster even if they magically help turn the teams fortune around a bit next season. Nothing was added that brings us any closer to a contender unless Ullmark resigns by TDL, just bottom barrel hunting while pissing away assets per usual. Coaching staff doesn't inspire confidence either. It doesn't me give any optimism we'll actually end up with a legit competitive team any time soon, if anything we seem to be tracking for multi year retool or full on rebuild if Brady decides he's had enough.

 

[TheNewEra]

Where does this notion come from?

The only pick that you can say was a reach was in the 2nd round. That's 1 pick out of all our selections made.

Even then, who cares? Reaches in the 2nd round are common. Sometimes taking the unpopular pick works and you get a Pinto (everyone wanted Kaliyev), and sometimes you get Ben Rogers.



Even without an extension, the value is still there in getting rid of Korpi even if Ullmark walks. I see this trade as win-win regardless. Obviously I hope the extension happens though.

oh i agree you in terms of who cares

im just saying people (saying it generally) that people were overreacting for our picks (including our 1st round pick). Which is why im saying we have to give the draft 2-3 years

 

[bert]

The framing of this is pretty dishonest.

- He traded a first round pick (which was a late first) to acquire Ullmark AND dump Korpisalo - a bad contract he had nothing to do with.

- We were never going to recoup an asset for Joseph, we tried to move him all last summer and again this year. Nobody wanted him. Again, not Staios’ contract.

- The biggest problem with the Chychrun trade is what we gave up for him. Again, not Staios’ doing. He did what he had to in order to cover our actual needs, which is what we should have done in the first place rather than throwing three picks down the drain.

- Do Jensen and Ullmark not count as veterans? Amadio might not be a “vet” I guess but has a lot more playoff experience than our roster does, including a Stanley Cup.

If Staios is giving up picks to dump Amadio in 2 years and buying out Jensen next summer, he will get the same flack Dorion got. Can’t blame him because undoing the mess doesn’t look perfect.

Just put him in a body bag. Thanks for saving the rest of us the time.

My only complaint so far was not buying out Hamonic.

The Joseph trade is not about just clearing cap space IMO, it seems obvious they wanted him removed from the group, why, I don’t know.

Agreed on both accounts. I just didnt see the rush for the Joseph move.

As for the draft, I liked it other than the 2nd rounder. I feel like they could have traded down got their guy or a similarly rated player and added some more draft capital when they only had 6 picks and none in the 3rd round. I actually really like the 4th round and am a big fan of Yakemchuk.

 

[jake1]

Short of a major shakeup involving the core, what even could have been done this off-season? It's not like there were a bunch of picks to trade, or lots of room under the cap to go after guys.

We'll see in six months how the roster changes worked. I like that they did not make long-term commitments this summer. That, plus getting out of most of K's contract, shows they're thinking about things more than two years down the line.

 

[Emerica]

I understand the rational behind every single move thus far, so that is already better than the previous GM we had.

In the end, I like this roster more than last years. Remains to be seen if it is good enough to fight for a wildcard spot. A lot is weighing on continued improvement/maturing of our young players.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

I can't believe how many just gloss over the Ullmark to Korpisalo upgrade in general. This is not some small thing.

We're going from having THE WORST starting goalie in the league to one of the best.

Some might argue Korpisalo will "bounce back" and Ullmark will fail like other goalies in Ottawa, but their resumes don't back that up, at all. Korpse was bad most of his career including 3 of the last 4 seasons where he was below backup quality.

Ullmark's resume does not compare to any of the long list of tenders we've brought in that failed. They were almost all backup quality other than maybe Murray who had injury issues and the bad year prior. This one is different, he has been consistent all through his career, and having a real character guy back there that wants the load, doesn't wilt and hurt the team every 2nd game, will be massive for this team.

 

[DrEasy]

6/10

- Ullmark trade is great. It will be even better if he can be signed to an extension.

- we keep talking about additions to the front office, but in reality we still don't have a POHO, our scouting is still mostly a legacy of the Dorion regime, and we have just that one dude in charge of analytics. I expected a lot more on that front (no, it's not early days anymore). "Best in class" would mean an army of scouts deployed all over the world, working hand-in-hand with a team at the forefront of analytics, the whole thing overseen by a prestigious POHO with a pedigree.

- as a result our drafting still follows the same out-of-step philosophy of the previous regime. We're still obsessing over size and shying away from Russians. Who knows, maybe this draft will go differently than past years, but I have no reason to think it will.

- I like the investment in Belleville and the nods to francophones in Gatineau. Trying to expand the fanbase geographically is smart.

- we haven't got good value in most of our trades, notably Chychrun and Joseph. At least unlike during Dorion I understand why these trades were made and I am ok giving the benefit of the doubt that more value couldn't be extracted.