We Have A Gm Problem

[Mrfenn92]

The UFA Goalie market is barren . I hope we resign Arvid soon .

Brossoit just doesn’t have that value after a lost season. Arvid should be a easy contract to get done.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

ping pong balls

they hit from time to time

Bedard and Kane in recent history

 

[ColbyChaos]

This is only his 2nd hire, technically.

He doesn’t listen to facts just wants his narrative

 

[ClydeLee]

He doesn’t listen to facts just wants his narrative

Fair, cause also the average NHL GM lasts 5.5 seasons. Most probably do get a 3rd hire if you count interms as hires

 

[ColbyChaos]

Fair, cause also the average NHL GM lasts 5.5 seasons. Most probably do get a 3rd hire if you count interms as hires

Counting an interim as a 3rd coach hire is the definition of bad faith arguing by him because it implies that there was like 10+ good coaches available in the middle of the season when back in reality there isn’t even that many options.

But this is also a poster who clamored for us to trade all of our first rounders from 2020-2024 due to COVID messing with peoples social skills and wanted us to have first rounders all the way to 2030 instead lmao

 

[hockeydoug]

This is only his 2nd hire, technically.

Yes, technically accurate but semantics when they are there for most of a season and in LR's case, never should have been there without a succession plan in place by camp.

In KD's time calling the shots as gm, he's had about 40% of his NHL games coached by an "interim" coach, and close to the same in Rockford.

Makes me scratch my head when people blame the players for being toxic, the players don't even know if they have a real coach or not, up or down, as the front office openly failed to get better.

Fortunately, Danny and KD will let Blashill stay there well past his shelf life...which I'll happily accept over another guy who has to learn on the job as a non-head coach-head coach placeholder thing

 

[Mrfenn92]

Should’ve kept Jeremy colliton I guess, big downgrade to interim coach Derek king

 

[hockeydoug]

Counting an interim as a 3rd coach hire is the definition of bad faith arguing by him because it implies that there was like 10+ good coaches available in the middle of the season when back in reality there isn’t even that many options.

When the golden goose was coached out of shooting to finish 24', in between team bag skates, a succession plan for LR should have been in place.

He had a trainwreck to manage in fall of 21' nobody holds that against him since he was an interim himself, but fall of 24 doesn't get KD a free pass.

But this is also a poster who clamored for us to trade all of our first rounders from 2020-2024 due to COVID messing with peoples social skills and wanted us to have first rounders all the way to 2030 instead lmao

Right, exactly what no one said.

You got the videogame model you wanted. What has KD wasted, literally a full year to a year and a half of doing nothing but busy work in NHL shifts because they tore down recklessly instead of slowing it down a bit and actually having something to build on as they keep tanking the standings for high picks. They're almost literally starting from scratch again this year.

Drafting like Dale Tallon in Florida is batsh$$ dumb, but whatever fits your narrative. Nothing has changed about my opinion on this thing. Went way too fast on the way down.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

When the golden goose was coached out of shooting to finish 24', in between team bag skates, a succession plan for LR should have been in place.

He had a trainwreck to manage in fall of 21' nobody holds that against him since he was an interim himself, but fall of 24 doesn't get KD a free pass.

Right, exactly what no one said.

You got the videogame model you wanted. What has KD wasted, literally a full year to a year and a half of doing nothing but busy work in NHL shifts because they tore down recklessly instead of slowing it down a bit and actually having something to build on as they keep tanking the standings for high picks. They're almost literally starting from scratch again this year.

Drafting like Dale Tallon in Florida is batsh$$ dumb, but whatever fits your narrative. Nothing has changed about my opinion on this thing. Went way too fast on the way down.

At some point the organization needed to accept the fact that what they had as a foundation wasn't good enough and they needed to start over...KD watched Bowman try to retool this team for 5 years, maybe it could've happened, but I don't blame him for saying lets start over right away instead of likely wasting a year of his tenure trying to fix a broken puzzle...and then you have to imagine that he knew what type of draft was coming in 2023 and saw it as a good opportunity to reset the foundation with a franchise level player

 

[Hawkaholic]

When the golden goose was coached out of shooting to finish 24', in between team bag skates, a succession plan for LR should have been in place.

He had a trainwreck to manage in fall of 21' nobody holds that against him since he was an interim himself, but fall of 24 doesn't get KD a free pass.

Right, exactly what no one said.

You got the videogame model you wanted. What has KD wasted, literally a full year to a year and a half of doing nothing but busy work in NHL shifts because they tore down recklessly instead of slowing it down a bit and actually having something to build on as they keep tanking the standings for high picks. They're almost literally starting from scratch again this year.

Drafting like Dale Tallon in Florida is batsh$$ dumb, but whatever fits your narrative. Nothing has changed about my opinion on this thing. Went way too fast on the way down.

You don't even know what you are arguing about. You say he had an interm coach 40% of his time, so you are counting Colliton/King? Like what?

He had 1 hire, LR, that didn't work out. It was a gamble, but they didn't need to win for 2 years. Now he has put his stock in a 2nd coach for a different era of Hawks, when they want to build something.

 

[ColbyChaos]

Yes, technically accurate but semantics when they are there for most of a season and in LR's case, never should have been there without a succession plan in place by camp.

In KD's time calling the shots as gm, he's had about 40% of his NHL games coached by an "interim" coach, and close to the same in Rockford.

Makes me scratch my head when people blame the players for being toxic, the players don't even know if they have a real coach or not, up or down, as the front office openly failed to get better.

Fortunately, Danny and KD will let Blashill stay there well past his shelf life...which I'll happily accept over another guy who has to learn on the job as a non-head coach-head coach placeholder thing

If you plan on firing your coach mid season then you should have just fired him in the offseason. Obscene reasoning by you lmao

 

[TheFridge]

When the golden goose was coached out of shooting to finish 24', in between team bag skates, a succession plan for LR should have been in place.

He had a trainwreck to manage in fall of 21' nobody holds that against him since he was an interim himself, but fall of 24 doesn't get KD a free pass.

Right, exactly what no one said.

You got the videogame model you wanted. What has KD wasted, literally a full year to a year and a half of doing nothing but busy work in NHL shifts because they tore down recklessly instead of slowing it down a bit and actually having something to build on as they keep tanking the standings for high picks. They're almost literally starting from scratch again this year.

Drafting like Dale Tallon in Florida is batsh$$ dumb, but whatever fits your narrative. Nothing has changed about my opinion on this thing. Went way too fast on the way down.

What do you mean they went way too fast on the way down? What was here when Davidson took over and declared they'd commit to a rebuild? They had Toews and Kane on soon-to-be expiring contracts. The only player locked up long-term was Seth Jones. They had DeBrincat and Strome as RFAs and the latter couldn't even fetch a mid-round pick at the trade deadline. They had Dach, who couldn't (and can't) stay healthy or be productive. And they had one of the worst prospect pools in the entire league.

So, was the idea that the Hawks should have held on to some of these guys? Should they not have traded Dach for a 1st round pick that's already paying dividends for them? Should they have kept DeBrincat and Strome and "built" around them? To what end?

You think a team that's going to feature Bedard, Vlasic, Nazar, Rinzel, Knight and possibly Levshunov, Korchinski, Moore, etc. is "almost literally starting from scratch" again? The foundation has been laid. That's what they've been doing the last 3 years. We're getting to the point now where the Hawks are going to have a steady influx of young, talented players competing for spots. And some of them project to be high-end players. The Hawks are still in phase 1 of the rebuild, but they're much closer to the end of phase 1 than they are from the start over point they reached between 2022 and 2023.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

there is way too much stock being put into the last two years when Bedard was the only KD pick on the roster, the intent was always to aim for high picks and be a longer process, he has avoided the big mistakes so far, the rebuild is probably 3/5 of the way done and if they luck into a blue chip forward in 25 and 26 draft then it should be time to see them make a big leap in standings

 

[MicronMega]

I don't know why anyone would say that KD is on the hot seat? He tore down a post-champion team when it needed to be torn down. He acquired a ton of draft capital. Hire the right guy in Mike Doneghey to lead the amateur staff. He has not rushed the process. He has made multiple great trades. He is finally just starting on the build with the new coach and money to spend. Why would there be any reason to change course right now? High marks for KD and his staff. Personally I am excited to see what he does next. It might not be this summer, it might be another year. But, this organization is in a great position moving forward and that is mainly due to the direction of KD.

 

[hockeydoug]

If you plan on firing your coach mid season then you should have just fired him in the offseason. Obscene reasoning by you lmao

2 years in on a tank team. It's extremely rare for a coach to survive more than 1.6 years on a bad team, let alone a third year. No excuse to not have had a plan in place before year 3, especially given how the last half of year 2 ended. This is KD having done things other gms do not do, and when they did, it went really poorly. It wasn't as if Chicago was going to uncharted territory.

Trust the new ownership, trust the new gm... and keep justifying random strange decisions...because prospects. got it.

You don't even know what you are arguing about. You say he had an interm coach 40% of his time, so you are counting Colliton/King? Like what?

He had 1 hire, LR, that didn't work out. It was a gamble, but they didn't need to win for 2 years. Now he has put his stock in a 2nd coach for a different era of Hawks, when they want to build something.

I'm saying the franchise has been a clown show and that's a good example, How many franchise have done anything close to this in a mid or big market, in any pro sport? It's not even just the big team. Who hires Eaton to coach the affiliate for a team who's construction is built around coaching prospects up?

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Outs

Kirby Dach

All the “Outs” players have been great top 6 top 4 players for their respective new teams.

 

[hockeydoug]

I don't know why anyone would say that KD is on the hot seat? He tore down a post-champion team when it needed to be torn down. He acquired a ton of draft capital. Hire the right guy in Mike Doneghey to lead the amateur staff. He has not rushed the process. He has made multiple great trades. He is finally just starting on the build with the new coach and money to spend. Why would there be any reason to change course right now? High marks for KD and his staff. Personally I am excited to see what he does next. It might not be this summer, it might be another year. But, this organization is in a great position moving forward and that is mainly due to the direction of KD.

I don't think anybody believes KD is on the hot seat. Danny doesn't like replacing people or heads would have rolled for quite a few of the organizational missteps. Lots of lost money outside of hockey ops and most of the leadership is still there.

At some point the organization needed to accept the fact that what they had as a foundation wasn't good enough and they needed to start over...KD watched Bowman try to retool this team for 5 years, maybe it could've happened, but I don't blame him for saying lets start over right away instead of likely wasting a year of his tenure trying to fix a broken puzzle...and then you have to imagine that he knew what type of draft was coming in 2023 and saw it as a good opportunity to reset the foundation with a franchise level player

I don't think a full rebuild or retool was the problem, my issue was how they went about the full rebuild going scorched earth and a huge pile of picks as quick as possible. Running before walking, and it slowed things down. Not sure they were looking at a single player or else KD probably wouldn't have LR almost scuttle the tank in 23 if KD's future was hinging on a single player, or even one of a couple.

 

[hockeydoug]

What do you mean they went way too fast on the way down? What was here when Davidson took over and declared they'd commit to a rebuild? They had Toews and Kane on soon-to-be expiring contracts. The only player locked up long-term was Seth Jones. They had DeBrincat and Strome as RFAs and the latter couldn't even fetch a mid-round pick at the trade deadline. They had Dach, who couldn't (and can't) stay healthy or be productive. And they had one of the worst prospect pools in the entire league.

So, was the idea that the Hawks should have held on to some of these guys? Should they not have traded Dach for a 1st round pick that's already paying dividends for them? Should they have kept DeBrincat and Strome and "built" around them? To what end?

You think a team that's going to feature Bedard, Vlasic, Nazar, Rinzel, Knight and possibly Levshunov, Korchinski, Moore, etc. is "almost literally starting from scratch" again? The foundation has been laid. That's what they've been doing the last 3 years. We're getting to the point now where the Hawks are going to have a steady influx of young, talented players competing for spots. And some of them project to be high-end players. The Hawks are still in phase 1 of the rebuild, but they're much closer to the end of phase 1 than they are from the start over point they reached between 2022 and 2023.

They drafted more players in 2 drafts than anybody not named Tallon to start building, there are dozens of reasons the rest of the league hasn't drafted like that. Seemed really strange to put a rebuild on the backs of the two biggest question marks in the organization (drafting/development), being lead by an owner and gm very inexperienced and very new to their respective positions. They kept almost all the same scouts and most of the same development staff that hadn't performed more than mediocre level for most of the previous decade (relative to draft position).

There's a ton of picks and with that heaps of talent but almost nobody is really identified as a core type player yet, let alone a core type player that knows how to win. There's no system, process, methodology, and by all indications, no real routine in place to build from on the big team right now 4 years in.

Bedard and Danny's money are the only things I would comfortably put in a foundation right now...and while I would bet on Bedard, I'm far from positive he hasn't been screwed up or delayed a bit. Lots to really like and to be optimistic about 8-10 of the prospects, but still no shortage of questions about them either.

 

[kmwtrucks]

he is safe for at least 2 years IMO. I think with some excitment about a new coach and New staff (which feels like a upgrade IMO) with young drafted players now hitting the team. Nazar, rinzel moore greene Lev lardis thompson and 5-6 coming each of the next 3-4 years.

 

[kmwtrucks]

They drafted more players in 2 drafts than anybody not named Tallon to start building, there are dozens of reasons the rest of the league hasn't drafted like that. Seemed really strange to put a rebuild on the backs of the two biggest question marks in the organization (drafting/development), being lead by an owner and gm very inexperienced and very new to their respective positions. They kept almost all the same scouts and most of the same development staff that hadn't performed more than mediocre level for most of the previous decade (relative to draft position).

There's a ton of picks and with that heaps of talent but almost nobody is really identified as a core type player yet, let alone a core type player that knows how to win. There's no system, process, methodology, and by all indications, no real routine in place to build from on the big team right now 4 years in.

Bedard and Danny's money are the only things I would comfortably put in a foundation right now...and while I would bet on Bedard, I'm far from positive he hasn't been screwed up or delayed a bit. Lots to really like and to be optimistic about 8-10 of the prospects, but still no shortage of questions about them either.

Drafted Core: Nazar rinzel greene from 2022 (KK? thompson Savoie ??), Bedard Moore from 2023 (knatersov Lardis? Misiak Gajan??) Lev boisvert 2024 (vannacker mustard, spellacy pridham??)

IMO we have drafted 7 core, with 3 highly likely Core pieces and 8 that have shown enough to be considered as potential core pieces.

that does not include Vlasic 2019, Riechel commerso kasier slagart Crevier 2020 Nolan Dach del mastro safunov harding 2021. Arvid Knight Joe velano. all the above 25 years or younger feels like the start of a Core. and then as a plan. knowing you cannot have everything. Speed everywhere and size on the backend.

next 3 drafts 5 1sts 7 seconds 3 3rds. feels like after 3rd its 10% chance of core piece.

 

[Sinbad]

He couldn't even return a 2nd rounder at the deadline. He's in for a rude awakening. Let him test free agency and let him crawl back for a 3 x $5m AAV deal

That’s too much, 3 x $3.5m or let him walk.

 

[x Tame Impala]

That’s too much, 3 x $3.5m or let him walk.

We've got a floor to get to. I'm happy we're out on Marner but am still weary of July 1st, I'd rather overpay Donato on a 2-3 year deal than sign Boeser to a 7 x $8+m AAV contract

 

[Sinbad]

If it's 3 years I don't care if they offer him $6m. At worst he's a top 9 depth player who won't be a waste of a roster spot like: Hall, Kurashev, Anthanasiou, Foligno, etc...

The Hawks hired some guy from Minnesota who specializes in contract negotiations so we'll see how it goes. I wonder if it was his input that made the Hawks shy away from Marner. I REALLY hope that's the case because it means we have someone intelligent in our front office who understands how ridiculous free agency is and how little value their contracts return back to the signing team.

Report: Blackhawks Hire Contract Guru Chris O'Hearn as VP of Hockey Ops - Bleacher Nation

Michael Russo of The Athletic reported on Monday evening that the Blackhawks are hiring former Minnesota Wild assistant general manager Chris O'Hearn as the

www.bleachernation.com

The Hawks can’t sign Donato for too much, they need to maintain flexibility so they can move him at 50% if he falters or they need his roster spot for younger players who are developing in the system.

 

[bwana63]

Donato: max term 3 years, non-negotiable
max AAV ~4.5M

I'd like him back, but I'd be very firm on those limits (especially term). if he walks, he walks

 

[Sinbad]

We've got a floor to get to. I'm happy we're out on Marner but am still weary of July 1st, I'd rather overpay Donato on a 2-3 year deal than sign Boeser to a 7 x $8+m AAV contract

There are several teams that will be looking to dump contracts, so getting to the floor will not be a problem.

That Boeser proposal will be a boat anchor contract by year four, if you are going to overpay him long term, might as well bite the bullet and go all 8n for Marner.