We have a GM problem

[statswatcher]

The result is a shiny new inexperienced head on the good-ol-boy body.

i'm all for not letting incoherence get in the way of delivering a good line, but this just comes off like you have no idea what you even want to say.

so ownership started the process of "breaking the wheel", but they "stopped after the top people" (even though you say "almost no one who had any meaningful influence at another NHL club" has come on board), and then they "wanted to do a full tear down and rebuild" which results in "a shiny new inexperienced head on the good-ol-boy body." the inexperience part is sinple enough to understand, but which part results in the "good-ol-boy" aspect? the full tear down? and why would you suggest hiring "retired NHL brains laying around golf courses" if "breaking the wheel" was such an admirable goal to begin with?

there's no consistency in the things you people complain about. i'm sure that the response to this post will try valiantly to make it make sense, and in doing so it will simply present several more contradictions. that's because what's motivating these posts isn't good faith analysis, but rather essentially just boredom and everyone's favorite hf boards character defect: arrogance.

 

[BobbyJet]

Who do you want them to hire? Since you are such a genius when it comes to who a good GM is or not.

Exactly. It's very easy to ridicule, it's an entire different story to specify what one would have done instead. Nobody could do a ground up rebuild in such a short time.... and I think he knows that - he just enjoys to put down everything Blackhawks (ironic that that is his handle).

 

[Blackhawks]

If we drafted Demidov he still wouldn’t be on this year’s roster and Bedard would still have few to no good options

What kind of an argument is this? Does this even require a response? BUT we would still be looking forward to next year and MANY years more, the HUGE difference that you are just setting aside as if it doesn’t exist, NEXT YEAR he will still have nothing to play with but garbage middle/bottom 6 forwards. Trust me soon he will be asking for a trade and the people here will still somehow blame him and not the brain numb GM, the none sense on here never ends.

 

[Blackhawks]

Exactly. It's very easy to ridicule, it's an entire different story to specify what one would have done instead. Nobody could do a ground up rebuild in such a short time.... and I think he knows that - he just enjoys to put down everything Blackhawks (ironic that that is his handle).

Bobby they got you too ha, you used to be a little more sensible, not picking Demidov alone is a cause for firing. I don’t care if two other bottom feeders didn’t pick him, they are bottom feeders for a reason, they have garbage GMs.

 

[WarriorofTime]

The other part of the whole rebuild/tear down thing is just cleaning out your cap space. That's part of why teams that sucked ten years ago can be so good now, they have the cap do stuff because they aren't as bogged down by multiple expensive contracts from multiple years prior.

144 active contracts that had 7 or 8 year terms. That's just what seemingly every player worth a lick and even some that aren't get. Auston Matthews appears to be the only the guy that willingly took high value, LESS term on the (admittedly well calculated) gamble that he will be a good enough player to still re-up for more money with a higher cap in a few years. Sometimes they're young guys coming off ELC that will turn out well. Many times they're overpriced veterans at too much length, value and with No-Trade protections. A good portion of those turn into total crap (like Seth Jones for instance).

So when you're chasing UFA and trade bait, it's difficult to do so in a way that doesn't involve handing out those lengthy contracts where you know a good portion will suffer for it on the backend and restrict your movement when you are actually trying to compete.

 

[BobbyJet]

Bobby they got you too ha, you used to be a little more sensible, not picking Demidov alone is a cause for firing. I don’t care if two other bottom feeders didn’t pick him, they are bottom feeders for a reason, they have garbage GMs.

There was never a chance that KD would be fired in such a short time. The jury is still out on him, as it should be by "sensible" fans.

 

[Hawkaholic]

There was never a chance that KD would be fired in such a short time. The jury is still out on him, as it should be by "sensible" fans.

Yeah, I dont have much faith in many GMs, but what are we supposed to do? Sitting here complaining about a GM without knowing the results of things 3-5 years out seems like a waste of energy.

 

[statswatcher]

Yeah, I dont have much faith in many GMs, but what are we supposed to do? Sitting here complaining about a GM without knowing the results of things 3-5 years out seems like a waste of energy.

it's only a waste if you don't have fun!

 

[ello]

Imagine before last years draft someone tells you that in 2024 and 2025 Hawks are going to pick top 3 and pick dmen both times. We would’ve wanted head to roll.

Hell, even after picking Lev everyone was like “it’s okay next year is the draft for forwards anyways”. And bam now the true superstar prospect from this draft is an dman and whichever high end forward we draft in 2026 probably won’t be a top line guy until like 2029-30. Sick.


Demidov made all the sense in the world at the time and makes even more sense now, considering what he’s been able to do in the KHL since he’s gotten proper ice time

 

[Blackhawks]

There was never a chance that KD would be fired in such a short time. The jury is still out on him, as it should be by "sensible" fans.

Ya just like when that same “sensible jury” was in Lala land when I was calling for Bowman’s head in 2016, the “sensible jury” finally caught up 6 years later, or it didn’t and most here didn’t call out Stan’s bs until he was fired and full 20/20 was in effect. Anyways when I am right in a couple years and this team is still trash no one will say oh hey you were right, just like no one said I was right about Stan the man. I leave this board for months at a time because most here don’t know jack about hockey, twitter/X certainly has the much more sensible views calling out this team’s bs.

 

[MHO]

Ya just like when that same “sensible jury” was in Lala land when I was calling for Bowman’s head in 2016, the “sensible jury” finally caught up 6 years later, or it didn’t and most here didn’t call out Stan’s bs until he was fired and full 20/20 was in effect. Anyways when I am right in a couple years and this team is still trash no one will say oh hey you were right, just like no one said I was right about Stan the man. I leave this board for months at a time because most here don’t know jack about hockey, twitter/X certainly has the much more sensible views calling out this team’s bs.

They might not make the playoffs in 2 years but if they look like a rudderless ship or what Anaheim or Buffalo is now, I'll surrender and say yes, you were right.

 

[WarriorofTime]

It's not a guarantee the Hawks get Schaefer, lol. People are just saying they shouldn't *not* take him *if* they can and *if* he's the best player in the Draft just because they have a lot of Defensemen.

*If* the Hawks go Top Pair LHD - Top Pair RHD, set and forget for 12 years, in the 2024 and 2025 Drafts, is that going to be some sort of problem?

I think people are getting too panicky. Bedard has a lot of production since they got rid of Richardson and promoted Sorensen, and he's still very young and upgrading the current supporting cast isn't particularly challenging. A second marquee scoring forward is a must of course. Top of the draft is best way to do it. Could still happen in 2025. We don't even know what pick the Hawks will have.

My main verifiable gripes with Davidson:

1) Extra year for Brodie
2) Extra year for Athanasiou
3) The trade ups in the 2024 Draft

Happy the Hawks

1) Blew it up... tune out the noise of "omgz ANOTHER tank season", yes another tank season.
2) worked margins with acquiring bad cap for extra draft picks
3) Vlasic extension was pretty solid
4) A bit choppy, not a homerun or a strikeout, but the Teravainen and Bertuzzi signings appear to have done as intended
5) not rushed into signing any 7-year free agents or making any big name trade just cuz
6) absorbs media heat and signals to team that they don't want to lose even though all moves suggest they are still content losing

Everything else (notably drafting quality, if letting some opportunities go by that turn out to be a bummer, lack of overall aggression, pro scouting, bringing in right coach at right time, etc.) is basically TBD.

 

[BobbyJet]

Ya just like when that same “sensible jury” was in Lala land when I was calling for Bowman’s head in 2016, the “sensible jury” finally caught up 6 years later, or it didn’t and most here didn’t call out Stan’s bs until he was fired and full 20/20 was in effect. Anyways when I am right in a couple years and this team is still trash no one will say oh hey you were right, just like no one said I was right about Stan the man. I leave this board for months at a time because most here don’t know jack about hockey, twitter/X certainly has the much more sensible views calling out this team’s bs.

I was one of the fire Stan folks in 2016 but this situation is entirely different. For all you know, KD may end up as a Hall of Famer GM..... it's just too early to rate him as bad or good. I don't know how many times or ways it can be explained.

 

[Chelios]

I was one of the fire Stan folks in 2016 but this situation is entirely different. For all you know, KD may end up as a Hall of Famer GM..... it's just too early to rate him as bad or good. I don't know how many times or ways it can be explained.

When Bobby is being the voice of reason you really need to evaluate your choices.

 

[statswatcher]

Ya just like when that same “sensible jury” was in Lala land when I was calling for Bowman’s head in 2016, the “sensible jury” finally caught up 6 years later, or it didn’t and most here didn’t call out Stan’s bs until he was fired and full 20/20 was in effect. Anyways when I am right in a couple years and this team is still trash no one will say oh hey you were right, just like no one said I was right about Stan the man. I leave this board for months at a time because most here don’t know jack about hockey, twitter/X certainly has the much more sensible views calling out this team’s bs.

you were actually calling for bowman's head in 2015. it's actually quite interesting looking at your post history. it paints an increidble picture of what being on the internet for the last 15 years straight has done to the minds of wide swaths of the population. you go from only mentioning bowman a handfull of times (once to handwring about how he should have been fired for signing handzus if they'd ended up losing the 2013 detroit series lmao) to obsessing over "stan the man". then something happens in 2016 (couldn't imagine what) and from there you just twist further and further into this self satisfied black hole.

all you talk about is how you were right about stanbo. well hell, allow me to be the first to congratulate you for being early to that. now why don't you ever bring up your ridiculous vendetta against crawford? don't you remember how scott darling reminded you of carey price? how about when you thought jeremy morin and peter f***ing regin was the skeleton key to winning the WCF in 2014 and you called for q's head all through the next (cup winning) season? or are you still right about that and they just won the '15 cup in spite of having q behind the bench and crawford in net? you said you bet a lot of money on them to win the cup that year, which is puzzling since at the beginning of that season you called them garbage how about when you wanted sharp to center a line with kane and ben smith? or is trying to take account of all the times you were right or wrong on the internet ridiculous now? because all of these things have exactly as much to do with an evaluation of kyle davidson's performance (or lack thereof) as what you said about stan bowman ten years ago. relitigating any one of these topics for the sake of establishing credibility (or lack thereof) would be just as facile as what you are attempting to do right now.

the most tragic thing about you is i don't think you are stupid. i find myself agreeing with more of these old posts of yours than not. if i'd been around at the time, i'd like to say i would have been more sympathetic to you than the eternal optimist gang that has so thoroughly established themselves rent free in your mind. and no, my problem isn't that you are "politically incorrect" (a bug bear that seems to have stuck in your craw sometime around 2015-16 as well, imagine that) either. no, my biggest problem with you, besides the fact that you are just generally insufferable, is this whole act where you coast on being right about one (1) thing, and then construct this mind palace delusion where you are having the same exact discussion again with a whole brigade of polyanna BK's when in reality the climate of opinion towards kd so far has been tepid at best. you are resting on your laurels, fighting the last war because you won it and you haven't matured emotionally since harambe was killed.