Management UPDATE: Steve Staios GM and POHO, Dave Poulin Senior VP of Hockey Operations

[DrEasy]

The whole hockey operation for the team clearly needs to be assessed after Dorion. You need people in place for the assessment and to plan what to do after the assessment. There are not a lot of options for people you can hire during the season.

Poulin might not have a big say in roster decisions. He might just be there to help assess things like scouting and to have connections to find the right people to join hockey ops. He's clearly a connected guy who has been around hockey for a long time in many roles.

Because right now, who is running the next draft for the team? There's no Trent Mann around any more or even someone close to his experience in running a draft.

Exactly, I think Poulin could be a good guy to help bring in the head scout and help shore up the scouting team, thanks to his connections. (edit: I just realized I'm simply paraphrasing you lol)

 

[coladin]

The injuries to Chabot, and the suspension to Pinto, haven't helped, but I think the fans really overestimated how good this team was, or could be.

I don't think Andlauer or Staios saw it the same way. If you look at their comments from early on, they never projected all that much optimism. Instead, they downplayed immediate expectations at every turn.

So here we are. They were forced to make some immediate PR-driven changes, but the real work will start in the summer.

I don't expect JM and Alfredsson to be coaches next year. I think they've been tasked with laying down some sort of foundation and giving Staios/Bowness/Poulin advice on which pieces to keep.

I also expect additional front-office hires to be made before the summer. We'll probably see another assistant GM (to focus on cap/contracts) along with additions to scouting.

Poulin, specifically, has a ton of expertise and connections to the NCAA and development programs. I'd expect one of his first tasks will be to beef up the amateur scouting side of the front office.

Every team has injuries. I repeat, because you talk about overestimation of fans. We are a lottery team. And I can bet you that they did not foresee a lottery team. This is crazy that we are doing this again , already looking at lottery status. I wanted to compete for a plyoff spot, get to 90 points, just keep going in the right direction.

Instead this team has self destructed, but we have stability. Slight sarcasm there, and I do appreciate the new owners and the hires and the thickening up of all apsects of the organization. But we are a lottery team

 

[Ghost of Jody Hull]

Every team has injuries. I repeat, because you talk about overestimation of fans. We are a lottery team. And I can bet you that they did not foresee a lottery team. This is crazy that we are doing this again , already looking at lottery status. I wanted to compete for a plyoff spot, get to 90 points, just keep going in the right direction.

Instead this team has self destructed, but we have stability. Slight sarcasm there, and I do appreciate the new owners and the hires and the thickening up of all apsects of the organization. But we are a lottery team

We are a lottery team, yes. But I don't see how you can be frustrated with Andlauer and Staios for that. They inherited this roster, with next to no flexibility, from the previous regime.

Should they have moved faster in firing DJ? Yeah, for sure. I would have fired him on Day 1. Same with Dorion. He never should have sat up there at any press conference under the veil of "stability".

But in the grand view of their "plan", whatever it is, 10-20 games aren't make or break.

This will be a bigger, more holistic reset, across the entire organization.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

That's a you problem though.

We aren't going to be able to attract top management talent for a while, not with how of much of a mess Dorion left.

Staios has worked his way up to where he finds himself. Let's give him a shot.

Well it’s a me problem if im wrong

But if im wrong I wont have a problem because that means we will be winning and he will be brilliant

 

[Micklebot]

pretty sure Darche has had some playoff success with Tampa

View attachment 794445

Nobody said he didn't, but his resume is pretty thin, he stepped onto a team already considered favourites, got a promotion and has been there as they decline. He's still widely considered a strong candidate to be a GM in the near future, but how much of Tbays success is on his account, how many of the decisions that brought TB to be a playoff success was he around for? He wasn't the guy that guided Tbay from playoff hopeful to playoff favourite. He was a guy thatade a good impression while they were already at the top, just like Bowness.

So why is he the gold standard for GM, while Bowness is too inexperienced for associate GM? Likely because fans heard some talking heads discuss his credentials, well, the talking heads seem to like Staois, Poulin and Bowness as a group too, might as well see how it goes.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Every team has injuries. I repeat, because you talk about overestimation of fans. We are a lottery team. And I can bet you that they did not foresee a lottery team. This is crazy that we are doing this again , already looking at lottery status. I wanted to compete for a plyoff spot, get to 90 points, just keep going in the right direction.

Instead this team has self destructed, but we have stability. Slight sarcasm there, and I do appreciate the new owners and the hires and the thickening up of all apsects of the organization. But we are a lottery team

I was totally sold we were a playoff team. I bought into the "this team is going to be tough to beat" narrative last fall.

I really think the injuries played a key role into the demise of the first 2 months. i think that was one of DJs weaknesses: inability to prepare the team to deal with adversity. Dorion needed one other experienced leader like Giroux. I know there were difficulties getting people to some at that time, but man that would have been a difference maker IMHO.

Goaltending is the biggest anomaly with the last 3-4 years. Insane how good goalies cannot perform here. No one can't figure that out? Where, why, who.... and when!?

Hopefully, Staios can get some deals done that are going to help us down the stretch. I foresee another big finish this year, with some big names in the fold.

On an important note.... I hope everyone took the rest of the week off to be able to sleep in after the late games!

 

[Micklebot]

The injuries to Chabot, and the suspension to Pinto, haven't helped, but I think the fans really overestimated how good this team was, or could be.

Well, it wasn't just fans, lots in the business thought this team would be better, and can you blame them, the team had 86 pts last year, and added Chychrun at the deadline, Tarasenko replaced DeBrincat, and the assumption was Norris back would give us solid depth at center, an issue all last year.

It was always going to be a battle, but on paper this should have been auch better team than last year. Perhaps we underestimated how big an impact DeBrincat had on the PP, or how important guys like Holden Gambrell and Watson were to the PK.

 

[Ghost of Jody Hull]

Well, it wasn't just fans, lots in the business thought this team would be better, and can you blame them, the team had 86 pts last year, and added Chychrun at the deadline, Tarasenko replaced DeBrincat, and the assumption was Norris back would give us solid depth at center, an issue all last year.

It was always going to be a battle, but on paper this should have been auch better team than last year. Perhaps we underestimated how big an impact DeBrincat had on the PP, or how important guys like Holden Gambrell and Watson were to the PK.

I think the media got carried away too.

The projections depended on a few things that haven't panned out: Stützle and Tkachuk haven't taken another step, and if anything, have regressed. It took Norris a while to get going, and he's still not there at 5v5. And Korpisalo hasn't stabilized our goaltending.

The Chabot/Pinto injuries/suspension certainly haven't helped, either,

In hindsight, people were making projections on a best-case scenario. But there are always a few things that go wrong, and yet again, this team has failed to handle them.

"Ability to deal with adversity" wasn't factored into the predictions.

 

[Samboni]

At this point I would have preferred someone with more managerial experience than Staios as GM but we will have to wait to form an opinion until he makes some trades.

 

[Micklebot]

I think the media got carried away too.

The projections depended on a few things that haven't panned out: Stützle and Tkachuk haven't taken another step, and if anything, have regressed. It took Norris a while to get going, and he's still not there at 5v5. And Korpisalo hasn't stabilized our goaltending.

The Chabot/Pinto injuries/suspension certainly haven't helped, either,

In hindsight, people were making projections on a best-case scenario. But there are always a few things that go wrong, and yet again, this team has failed to handle them.

"Ability to deal with adversity" wasn't factored into the predictions.

We were minus 26 last year at 5v5, we're +3 in 32 games so far this year, that's pacing at over a 30 goal improvement 5v5. And that's with attrocious goaltending. The big difference is our PP/PK differential, we're -9 on special teams, pacing towards -23, last year we were +13.

Idk if thinking our special teams would at least break even was projecting on best case scenarios.

 

[Beech]

I was totally sold we were a playoff team. I bought into the "this team is going to be tough to beat" narrative last fall.

I really think the injuries played a key role into the demise of the first 2 months. i think that was one of DJs weaknesses: inability to prepare the team to deal with adversity. Dorion needed one other experienced leader like Giroux. I know there were difficulties getting people to some at that time, but man that would have been a difference maker IMHO.

1) Goaltending is the biggest anomaly with the last 3-4 years. Insane how good goalies cannot perform here. No one can't figure that out? Where, why, who.... and when!?

Hopefully, Staios can get some deals done that are going to help us down the stretch. I foresee another big finish this year, with some big names in the fold.

On an important note.... I hope everyone took the rest of the week off to be able to sleep in after the late games!

1) Pierre Lebrun addressed a good 10 or so days ago.. Goaltending is chaotic league wise. Based upon his contacts with all teams, only 8 felt they had good goaltending.. 8!!!

We had a few posts this summer, when Korpo got signed.. The CHL is now a NGL..no goalie league.. A few years ago, they dumped their rule (active from roughly 2010-2019) requiring that CHL goalies be North American. They realized that their effort to salvage North American goaltending is not working.

Take a look at this year's WJC... Canada's goalie could not stop a beach ball... Now take a look at team Canada's WJC goalies going back 15 years. How many are in the pros? how many are stars? Ditto for team USA and the rest of the world. We are talking some 50 kids have been on high end WJC teams the last 15 years... where are they? Most cannot stop beach balls and are buried in the minors or out of the game.

The NHL needs to return to a dead puck era to protect against weak goaltending.. the Jacques Martin, Jacques Lemaire, Ken Hitchcock, etc,. system of defensive coaching has to come back.. It will protect the weak goaltending.

It is no accident that goal scoring is at early 1990's levels.. It is not better forwards.. It is weak goaltending...

2) The rest of your post.... weak goaltending is made that much worse by poor defense.. especially by defensemen who are not physical and not disciplined.

This team has: Chabot, Sanderson, Chyc, JBD and Brannstrom that are flyboy defensemen., They like to move all over the ice. They are not physical and have zero discipline..

It leaves Hamonic..his best days are behind him and ZUB... One guy!!

This is Dorion's and DJ faults and lunacy for not identifying it and correcting it. It is going to take 1-2 years to correct it.

Again.. Jacques Martin will do his job and instill a suffocating defensive system that will help them, teach them,... and as in 1) shield the goalies.


As fans we have been speaking about this for 3 years now... 3 years.

How the F did we see it and the team did not? Finally, f***ing finally, Staios did.

This mess should be cleaned up in 2 years.

 

[Beech]

We were minus 26 last year at 5v5, we're +3 in 32 games so far this year, that's pacing at over a 30 goal improvement 5v5. And that's with attrocious goaltending. The big difference is our PP/PK differential, we're -9 on special teams, pacing towards -23, last year we were +13.

Idk if thinking our special teams would at least break even was projecting on best case scenarios.

6 f***ing years into a rebuild. One that was suppose to lead to FYOUS and all we have is pp and pk is low and that is why we are a lottery team and not a #8 chasing team???????

Mick.... 2021 was suppose to be the start of FYOUS.. Okay, it was a bullshit date... off by 2-3 years...

Hello, we are now 2-3 years later... FYOUS... we should not be aiming at 90-95 points if our PP and PK were better!!!! We should have been staring at 100-105 points.. And our 5 v 5 and PP and PK should be destroying most of the league.

How the bleep are we closer to a lottery win, than a Presidents trophy win?????

6 years of being the laughing stock of the league.. The Butt of jokes... all endured so we can have our "shove it" moment on all the league... and PP and PK.. PP is on us and it smells bad.

 

[Wondercarrot]

This new owner has hired two guys off the local radio station. You like those optics Bert? What’s next? Mike Johnson as a senior advisor and Eric Macramala on the legal advisory side?

I want a GM with experience. No one was considered. No one was interviewed. Doesn’t sound Melnykian at all eh.

And if I hear “stability” one more time from Andlauer I am going to give him my tickets back

lmfao
DJ Dorion and Melnyk get infinite years of patience but the new sensible level headed people are here with a plan, who in 3 months are spending lots of money to boost every area of the organization perceived as a weakness. All while having to deal with a 6+ year tire fire covered in shit in the first weeks of ownership.

Go hand in your f***ing tickets, good riddance.

 

[Ghost of Jody Hull]

We were minus 26 last year at 5v5, we're +3 in 32 games so far this year, that's pacing at over a 30 goal improvement 5v5. And that's with attrocious goaltending. The big difference is our PP/PK differential, we're -9 on special teams, pacing towards -23, last year we were +13.

Idk if thinking our special teams would at least break even was projecting on best case scenarios.

Through 32 games - this year and (last)

5v5 GF: 87 (60)
5v5 GA: 77 (77)
5v5 differential: +10 (-17)
---
PP GF: 22 (35)
SH GA: 4 (3)
PP GA: 31 (23)
SH GF: 2 (3)
Special teams differential: -11 (+12)
--
All situations GF: 111 (98)
All situations GA: 112 (103)
All situations differential: -1 (-5)

It's interesting to compare.

When you look at last year's numbers, our PP got off to a torrid pace. We were at 28.5% through the first 32 games. But In the next 50, it went down to 20%, which is much closer to what it has been so far this year (18%).

The PK has been significantly worse than it was last year, though.

So I guess you could say that our PP has been getting progressively worse over the last 82 games, our PK has gone to complete shit, and goaltending still sucks, but we are better at scoring 5v5.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

www

lmfao
DJ Dorion and Melnyk get infinite years of patience but the new sensible level headed people are here with a plan, who in 3 months are spending lots of money to boost every area of the organization perceived as a weakness. All while having to deal with a 6+ year tire fire covered in shit in the first weeks of ownership.

Go hand in your f***ing tickets, good riddance.

I wish we could wish good riddance to angry screamers that start off posts with LMFAO. That would be awesome.

Let's keep this thread about the current management and leave the Dorion/DJ/Melnyk shit out of it. That would be great.

 

[UglyPuckling]

I think the media got carried away too.

The projections depended on a few things that haven't panned out: Stützle and Tkachuk haven't taken another step, and if anything, have regressed. It took Norris a while to get going, and he's still not there at 5v5. And Korpisalo hasn't stabilized our goaltending.

The Chabot/Pinto injuries/suspension certainly haven't helped, either,

In hindsight, people were making projections on a best-case scenario. But there are always a few things that go wrong, and yet again, this team has failed to handle them.

"Ability to deal with adversity" wasn't factored into the predictions.

We tend to be overly optimistic in the summer. We talk about injuries and how advanced stats mean that we are better.

But, it's a really competitive league, so reality sets in. Other teams improve too and they are not static. There's always adversity and injuries. It's how you respond to those things sets apart the really good teams versus the others.

In the end, it's only Wins versus Losses that matters. Our record tells us what we are, even though that can be hard to accept.

We've lost another season, but it's a new era. We'll have to wait and see if we are pointed in the right direction and if there's definitive improvement.

 

[JD1]

Um look at the reaction in this thread, most people seem to be happy with this. So, yes, I suspect people are lapping this up. This is what years of lowered standards looks like, any progress seems to be an order of magnitude against what existed previously but when you compare it to the rest of the league and especially the upper echelon teams - the cream of the crop we'd like to be with - it's painfully obvious that we still have one of the smallest and least experienced front offices in the NHL.

Inexperience doesn't mean they have no chance at succeeding but you can't say you're going to be "best in class" and then do this. "Best in class" means you hired from the pool of the most talented and prominent names in your industry. After years of new guys coming in and everyone saying "but let's give them a chance to show us what they can do" I would have expected most people to react by saying "no no not this bullshit again".

Ok, so here's where we really get into opinions

Andlauer has been a 20% owner of the Habs for how long? A dozen years or more?

He's attended many BoG meetings. Has a large network of NHL contacts. Sat in on hiring decisions made in Montreal. Has witnessed various hockey ops model from a seat that no one who posts here has.

He has Staois with total control of his major junior team. They won 2 OHL championships.

And Staois played 1000+ games in the league.

So our new owner, who is anything but a newbie to the inner workings of the NHL, views Staois as a key, probably THE key, in a best in class organization.

I don't think anyone here is capable of having an informed opinion to the contrary. So we don't have much choice but to watch it play out and judge the results

 

[BankStreetParade]

What new guys over the years? Who am I missing?

Every rookie coach whose NHL career started in Ottawa, the GM, the AGMs, the executives, etc.

And I guess we'll see. The biggest names aren't available to them and haven't been since they took over. I'm not convinced this is all long term either way. I'm impressed by what they were able to do with Martin and Alfie on the bench, and Poulin seems like a good addition. Staios has some experience at various levels as well. They've made some other hires and just have to keep filling in. I'm open to it, but I also accept they took over mid season and are 33 games in to a team falling on its face that was entirely built by someone else. If they will fail, they will fail, but they haven't yet.

With half a season left, you don't remove the interim tag and promote the assistant GM to associate GM unless you're gonna be there for the long haul. What's the logic of then hiring someone in the offseason who will be forced to keep Bowness on as associate because you promoted him?

This is the front office group for the long term. And that's what I'm basing my judgement off of because this is most certainly NOT best in class.

 

[Ghost of Jody Hull]

Every rookie coach whose NHL career started in Ottawa, the GM, the AGMs, the executives, etc.

With half a season left, you don't remove the interim tag and promote the assistant GM to associate GM unless you're gonna be there for the long haul. What's the logic of then hiring someone in the offseason who will be forced to keep Bowness on as associate because you promoted him?

This is the front office group for the long term. And that's what I'm basing my judgement off of because this is most certainly NOT best in class.

Who would be best in class, in your opinion? Who should have been the GM?

It sounds like it needs to be a "name" because the top assistant GM candidates (Darche, Tulsky, Spezza, etc) are in the same boat as Staios and Bowness (lack of experience). They have no track record, so they might be good, or they might suck.

Peter Chiarelli? Ray Shero? Doug Wilson?

 

[Ralph Malfredsson]

Who would be best in class, in your opinion? Who should have been the GM?

Mike Milbury? Rejean Houle? Doug Maclean? I wonder what Mel Bridgman is up to these days?

 

[bert]

Did you read mine?

Yeah, Staios has experience, but not in the TWO roles he has now.

Yeah, Poulin has experience, I have acknowledged that, but he was not good in Toronto and hasn't had a job in ten years in the NHL.

Best in Class? Anyways, I have already addressed this ad nauseum and repeating myself because I will not agree with you.

And your whole schtick of me being a contrarian just continues to expose how you cannot stick to making points because you get riled up and start with the name calling and blah blah blah. Dude whatever, grow up a bit. I don't so anything "for the sake of it". If you think my whole schtick is because I have a hard on for Melnyk and Dorion, you aree the one who needs perspective

You clearly didn't read mine. 'Best in class' this and that. He took over the team in pre season....... They haven't even had an off season yet to continue to add, you know when people are available. You ignored the rest of the additions too. You have an agenda it's obvious.

 

[BankStreetParade]

Who would be best in class, in your opinion? Who should have been the GM?

It sounds like it needs to be a "name" because the top assistant GM candidates (Darche, Tulsky, Spezza, etc) are in the same boat as Staios and Bowness (lack of experience). They have no track record, so they might be good, or they might suck.

Peter Chiarelli? Ray Shero? Doug Wilson?

Vegas hired McPhee to be their first GM, a guy with a lot of experience as a GM and in other executive roles in the NHL.

Seattle hired Francis to be their first GM, a guy with experience as a GM and a lot of other executive roles.

Before Brisebois was named GM of Tampa, he had been with Montreal for over 6 years in different executive roles including Director of Hockey Ops, VP of Hockey Ops and GM of the AHL team. He joined Tampa as an AGM and managed their farm team, hired Jon Cooper and worked as an AGM for 8 years before he got the big job.

Jim Nill was a Director of Player Development for 4 years and an AGM in Detroit for 15 years before he left to be the GM of Dallas.

Yzerman was VP of Hockey Ops for 4 years and was the GM of Team Canada for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver before he became a GM in Tampa.

It doesn't need to be a name, it needs to be someone with executive experience at the NHL level. Darche and Tulsky have executive experience in roles that are heavily involved in front office affairs, not just vague special assistant titles.

 

[bert]

I honestly wasn't of the mind of playoffs this year. I didn't think they would get in unless things went perfectly , stayed healthy, and Korpisalo could play.

I can say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I didn't envision, not even for a second, that this was a lottery team. We are and will be a lottery team this year. I have seen too much. So, this could be like Colorado getting Makar, or Jersey getting the Hughes brothers, my mind is slowly accepting that, although the money sepnt this year bugs me

And in this thread you praised Dorion and said his trades 'were mixed'.... He built this team... But now you want to blame Staios who took over in pre season..... The math isn't adding up for you.

 

[coladin]

lmfao
DJ Dorion and Melnyk get infinite years of patience but the new sensible level headed people are here with a plan, who in 3 months are spending lots of money to boost every area of the organization perceived as a weakness. All while having to deal with a 6+ year tire fire covered in shit in the first weeks of ownership.

Go hand in your f***ing tickets, good riddance.

You are demonstrating a clear lacking of stability. Please learn from your heroes and stabilize yourself. Sunny days ahead. Beautiful, but more importantly, stable.

Nah, I’ll keep my tickets

 

[JD1]

And in this thread you praised Dorion and said his trades 'were mixed'.... He built this team... But now you want to blame Staios who took over in pre season..... The math isn't adding up for you.

There's not a lot of logic at times Bert

In another thread, the worst GM in the league, perhaps of all time, managed to assemble 5 top line players and 3 top pair D.