Sharks picking Kane over Pavelski for extension. Made sense at the time but in hindsight it was a terrible decision.
What is the single worst decision your team ever made?
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Mr Misunderstood
Must win.
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ManofSteel55
Registered User
How about trading up from the pick that ended up being Martin Brodeur, so you could select Trevor Kidd instead? How about that gem?
I think the biggest blunder with the Phaneuf trade was that Sutter didn't shop him around.
EmptyNetAssassin
Registered User
frightenedinmatenum2
Registered User
I would go with not re-signing Alfredsson after using Alfredsson's contract to circumvent the salary cap.
For those unfamiliar, Alfredsson signed what was supposed to be a 3 year 18.5M (6.17M AAV) contract. There was a fourth year tacked on at 1M in order to lower the AAV to 4.875M. The understanding was that Alfredsson was not going to play out the contract.
During the life span of the contract, the Senators went into a re-tool and saw no real cap benefit from the circumvention. They would have been fine with Alfredsson at 6.17M AAV. With the final year of the contract being a lockout shortened year, and Alfredsson feeling okay, he played out the contract with the understanding that he would be overpaid on an extension to compensate him for playing for only 1M. Keep in mind that the Senators were not going to be anywhere near the salary cap, so paying Alfredsson 7M for 1 season would not hurt them in that regard.
When it came time to pay Alfredsson, Melnyk allegedly went back on his word, or Bryan Murray may have fabricated the team's willingness to compensate Alfredsson. This resulted in Alfredsson leaving Ottawa. Keep in mind, the team did not have any cap issues that would prevent this kind of extension. The concerns were purely budgetary.
This set off a chain of events that set the franchise back years both in marketing perception, and on ice success. First, the big selling point as to why Alfredsson should take less money was that Bryan Murray was working on a trade for Bobby Ryan. Re-signing Alfredsson would not allow them to afford Ryan's salary. At the time, that seemed like a bad thing. Looking back, had the team not acquired Bobby Ryan they would have kept Jakob Silfverberg, their first round pick, and they would have avoided a massive 7M+ contract that helped sink their chances of competing under a budget with Karlsson in his prime. Not to mention, Ryan was phenomenal in his first year in Ottawa, at least for the first 40-50 games. With a broken down Alfredsson and no Bobby Ryan, there is a chance that the Senators would have finished near the bottom of the league where they could have gotten one of Ekblad, Bennett, Reinhart, or Draisaitl (Dorion apparently loved Draisaitl). Not to mention, it may have expedited a Spezza trade if the Senators were further out of the playoffs at the deadline, and possibly lead to them getting back a better return than Chiasson and a 2nd.
While "the Senators would have sucked more in 2013-14" might not be a very compelling argument at first, adding Silfverberg, a possible top 4 pick from the 2014 draft, a better return for Spezza, and 7M of cap space long term would put the Senators in a better position to build around Karlsson.
Not to mention, prior to Alfredsson leaving, Melnyk was seen by the fans as the fun cowboy type. Your crazy uncle who knew how to walk the line at family dinners between outrageous and offensive, but was always there when you needed him most. Internally, we now know that there was always tribulation around Melnyk as the owner, but this had yet to leak out to the general public. Alfie-gate was the first instance of the mask slipping. It started a snowball that nearly killed the franchise. Melnyk's personal tainted brand became so far intertwined with the team, that nobody wanted to pay to go to games. The above may have still happened, but Alfredsson not being forced out initially (he probably leaves eventually) may have stopped some of the bleeding and bought the team a few more years of goodwill from the "pizza line" years.
For those unfamiliar, Alfredsson signed what was supposed to be a 3 year 18.5M (6.17M AAV) contract. There was a fourth year tacked on at 1M in order to lower the AAV to 4.875M. The understanding was that Alfredsson was not going to play out the contract.
During the life span of the contract, the Senators went into a re-tool and saw no real cap benefit from the circumvention. They would have been fine with Alfredsson at 6.17M AAV. With the final year of the contract being a lockout shortened year, and Alfredsson feeling okay, he played out the contract with the understanding that he would be overpaid on an extension to compensate him for playing for only 1M. Keep in mind that the Senators were not going to be anywhere near the salary cap, so paying Alfredsson 7M for 1 season would not hurt them in that regard.
When it came time to pay Alfredsson, Melnyk allegedly went back on his word, or Bryan Murray may have fabricated the team's willingness to compensate Alfredsson. This resulted in Alfredsson leaving Ottawa. Keep in mind, the team did not have any cap issues that would prevent this kind of extension. The concerns were purely budgetary.
This set off a chain of events that set the franchise back years both in marketing perception, and on ice success. First, the big selling point as to why Alfredsson should take less money was that Bryan Murray was working on a trade for Bobby Ryan. Re-signing Alfredsson would not allow them to afford Ryan's salary. At the time, that seemed like a bad thing. Looking back, had the team not acquired Bobby Ryan they would have kept Jakob Silfverberg, their first round pick, and they would have avoided a massive 7M+ contract that helped sink their chances of competing under a budget with Karlsson in his prime. Not to mention, Ryan was phenomenal in his first year in Ottawa, at least for the first 40-50 games. With a broken down Alfredsson and no Bobby Ryan, there is a chance that the Senators would have finished near the bottom of the league where they could have gotten one of Ekblad, Bennett, Reinhart, or Draisaitl (Dorion apparently loved Draisaitl). Not to mention, it may have expedited a Spezza trade if the Senators were further out of the playoffs at the deadline, and possibly lead to them getting back a better return than Chiasson and a 2nd.
While "the Senators would have sucked more in 2013-14" might not be a very compelling argument at first, adding Silfverberg, a possible top 4 pick from the 2014 draft, a better return for Spezza, and 7M of cap space long term would put the Senators in a better position to build around Karlsson.
Not to mention, prior to Alfredsson leaving, Melnyk was seen by the fans as the fun cowboy type. Your crazy uncle who knew how to walk the line at family dinners between outrageous and offensive, but was always there when you needed him most. Internally, we now know that there was always tribulation around Melnyk as the owner, but this had yet to leak out to the general public. Alfie-gate was the first instance of the mask slipping. It started a snowball that nearly killed the franchise. Melnyk's personal tainted brand became so far intertwined with the team, that nobody wanted to pay to go to games. The above may have still happened, but Alfredsson not being forced out initially (he probably leaves eventually) may have stopped some of the bleeding and bought the team a few more years of goodwill from the "pizza line" years.
Maybe someone knows more of the nitty gritty but didn’t the Islanders sign a horrible lease for Nassau Coliseum around 1980 that severely crippled their ability to remain competitive? Of course various owners would buy the team, hoping to use the land around it that was Michell Air Field but get caught in the Nassau County politics where the evenly divided Democrats and Republicans have far different ideas about what to do it and never agree. I think the book “Fishsticks” points out the Brendan Byrne arena where the Devils and Nets played would spend $1 million a year on maintenance. Nassau Coliseum spent $50,000. Head coach Butch Goring at one time had to go on the roof to install an antenna so he could record other teams games to study.
LuckyDay
Registered User
So he wasn't only a football coach ?
Note that I'm not saying that you're wrong about the idiocy of his hiring.
Jeune Poulet
Registered User
- Oct 31, 2019
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They weren't looking good because of your ignorance.
Paul Maurice was always a good hire.
karltonian
Registered User
- Jan 1, 2023
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It was a fine decision at the time and not a very bad one in retrospect either. We were not winning the Cup with Pavelski in and neither did the Stars, who were much better positioned and got the absolute max out of Pavelski that we never would have. And today we have a new era with Celebrini vs where we would be having kept Pavelski and toiling away as a below average, non-tank team.
People like to cite these recent emotional touchpoints for the Sharks but in the end these were nowhere near the worst decisions ever for the franchise.
karltonian
Registered User
- Jan 1, 2023
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Which is why they don't hurt as much to lose. Spreading talent over multiple positions means you can get other non-generational players to replace any of those positions in a different mix and have the same general effect. Having a generational player in one position that concentrates the impact in that one position is much harder to replace and requires reworking the team more.
The difference between Joe Thornton, especially after 2010, and Zdeno Chara was very very small. Certainly not the greatest two way C in NHL history difference.
There really isn’t an excuse. Boston found great players through the draft and SJ didn’t, it’s really that simple
Thornton was great, but “only” had two 100+ pt seasons and one season of trophies. Chara won a Norris and was a frequent top 5 in voting. They were pretty similar in impact
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Erik Alfredsson
Beast Mode Cowboy!
- Jan 14, 2012
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Despite actually working out hockey-wise, I think trading Erik Karlsson was extremely damaging to the hockey market in Ottawa. Karlsson was worshiped by Sens fans, he was the new Alfie and Melnyk shipped him out and didn't even attempt to negotiate a new contract. The way it was handled was an insult to the fanbase in Ottawa and an insult to the greatest talent the team ever had. Excitement surrounding the team turned into disdain, and I don't think the market has fully recovered (it will take some playoff success to earn the fanbase's trust back).
TopShelfWaterBottle
Registered
- Mar 16, 2014
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Pickles
Registered User
cowboy82nd
Registered User
Thanks for the encouraging words. My ignorance at the time, took in the fact that the Panthers were out of the playoffs (at that point in the season) and we didn't seem to have any consistency. This, while coming off a Presidents Trophy season the year before. But, I will accept my ignorance and eat crow.
jellybeans
Registered User
- Nov 9, 2007
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Trading Roy instead of firing Tremblay
BB79
Registered User
- Apr 30, 2011
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Yeah, but not the worst decision the Rangers have ever made.
Ignorance is definitely not the right word. Most panthers fans were pissed at the time.
wintersej
Registered User
Specifically the Senyshyn reach. The others were defensible. That one was wowzers.
That being said…
Barzal turned into a 1B, Connor is a Phil Kessel like one dimensional scorer and Chabot vibes have soured. It’s gotten less bad as the years have gone on.
Not to say it’s still not bad! But none of those guys turned into franchise altering players like it seemed at first.
BHD
Here comes Skinner
