Sure. That is what I meant ...
Not really. My point is throwing +/- out there without context means nothing.
Also, you mentioned things like, go after Suter. He is 36 years old, has been on the decline and recently bought out by the Wild. How does he fit this team? Did he even want to join an expansion team as an FA? None of us have no idea and you are just doing pure speculation here.
Do you honestly think a player like Suter over the likes of Larsson or Oleksiak would have made much, if any, difference on this team? You are basing your hypothesis over career +/- which is a flawed stat. But then again, you have already shat on analytics so that is not very surprising to me.
Also, yes, I sit on the spectator side of things. As do you, unless you are an NHL player. But I don't quit on this team when they go down or lose the team. While I do agree with you that this season is lost, it may end up netting us a top-5 pick which is going to be a lot better for the future than acquiring the likes of Ian Cole or Ryan Suter. You will not find anyone here who is NOT disappointed about the season. We expected better but we were prepared for the eventuality that this team was going to be a bad team and not compete till 2023. I would be shocked if anyone here expected us to be like Vegas.
People act like we are defending Ron Francis, when in actuality
all we are doing is holding off passing judgement less than half way through our first season. I have liked some of the things he has done, and disliked others. But in my mind he deserves to go through atleast 1 full season + draft to see where the roster stands at that point. If this team is not a playoff team by 2023 or at the cusp of being a playoff team by then, I will join you in asking GMRF to be fired. That may happen even sooner if GMRF makes more suspect decision in the upcoming off-season and this TDL. But till then, I will be patient and deal with the sorrow of my team being a terrible expansion team.
Right, to the highlighted especially. While I think it's far too early to pass blanket judgment on the GM or even the coaching to a lesser extent, if you held a gun to my head right now and made me judge their jobs thus far it would be overwhelmingly negative. However, In the history of the NHL, I believe only 1 expansion team has ever been successful (one could argue Florida as well and I would understand). As it is though, particularly for the GM, there is a lot more at play than simple results on the ice.
It's overwhelmingly obvious to most of us on here that there are two major concerns and one minor concern. The minor being goal scoring (it's not great, but also not absolutely dire) and the majors being the performance in goal, and the other being coaching. On the latter, it's clear we're seeing very alarming patterns emerge in the other two. While it's difficult to pin down the root cause, it is rather telling that it's generally across the board in these areas, thus pointing toward coaching. As such, I think most of us are getting to the point of passing some judgment regarding coaching.
The GM is another deal entirely. It's a long term job, not a short term job. Injuries happen that you can't predict, bad contracts are signed by nearly every team in the NHL, but you never know until it's too late. We know what ours MIGHT be, but the sample size is too small. As you look beyond the expansion draft, which sure, some other players could have been picked, but the value we got for a vast majority of those players chosen really wasn't too bad. It's not like we're paying 4m a year to Haydn Fleury, Riley Sheahan or Max McCormick. You know what I mean?
If you break down players that Seattle actually signed, didn't just PICK, you've got a shorter list to scrutinize as to the merit of their signing. However, before that it's worth noting that none of the contracts PICKED are really very bad at all, but there were plenty of bad contracts available in the expansion draft.
Now... for those contracts the Kraken DID sign.
Larsson 4x4
Oleksiak 4x4.6
Grubauer 6x5.9
Driedger 3x3.5
Dunn 2x4 (though he was picked as an RFA, but didn't sign for minimum, so there's something to scrutinize)
Donato 1x0.75
Sheahan 1x0.75
McCormick 1x0.75
Wennberg 3x4.5
Schwartz 5x5.5
Johansson 1x1.5
Obviously we're all sweating profusely about 2 of them, both of the goaltenders. If you aren't, you're not watching, but the rest of those contracts are very fair value and some are quite good. Obviously Donato has outperformed expectations of a league minimum contract. Schwartz, being injured is a worry and he's clearly missed, but at the same time.. for the production he's had and the effort he's put in, he's being paid in the right zone (See Eberle). Wennberg, while a high dollar value for his production is also on a shorter deal. It's not as if he's overpaid though. He's a role player and is playing his role and being paid for it. As for the rest. They are right where they should be. Oleksiak and Larsson, even in the eye test are good veteran defensemen... who generally get deals exactly like theirs, hell, I'm of the opinion Oleksiak could have gotten a little (LITTLE) more.
Then... we talk about the coaching and that's where we all start questioning the GM decisions. You poach most of the Maple Leafs assistant coaching staff and hire the goalie coach from Buffalo... Ok... but why? Not one of us isn't concerned about this... but it's been 35 games. We're right on the cusp, no question, but what other options were there? Did Francis take a risk with somebody inexperienced at the NHL level? Did He go with one of the other, generally not desirable options that we learned were candidates? Was Boudreau an option? Did they interview guys that signed with other teams before Hakstol was announced? We don't know, and probably never will. Jury's still out, but jury is deliberating.
