Micklebot
Moderator
- Apr 27, 2010
- 54,046
- 31,248
Of course, tons of people completely ignored the main point the OP was trying make. How many teams in the history of pro sports completely overhaul their front office after going further than they’ve even been before? Imagine the Patriots making Bill Belichick team President and promoting the offense coordinator to fill in his spot after winning their first SuperBowl? It wouldn’t happen, it doesn’t make sense.
Lots of damage was done by Muckler. It was pretty evident when you go back and look. Beyond that, Muckler was retiring soon anyways. Muckler was pushed out as part of the succession planning. Melnyck didn't want to lose a very well respected GM/coach in Murray like we lost Chiarelli a year earlier, so he offered Muckler another position (he was 73 at the time and was likely retiring after that contract anyways) and promoted a know commodity.
To make matters worse, Murray hired three consecutive duds as coaches that created instability and made the franchise a living joke. If Murray had stayed behind the bench, does the Heatley fiasco actually happen? We’ll never know but it sure as hell didn’t help matters.
While the coaches were part of the problem, the bigger issue was goaltending. League worst goaltending meant the breakdown of any system the various coaches tried to implement. Padock was getting .902 sv%, Hartsburg was gettng .901 sv%, Clouston .902 sv%. Very few coaches will survive that.
The drafting was crap with Muckler, of that there is no doubt and we did lose key pieces for nothing but you also have to keep in mind that this was around the time the salary cap kicked in and it hurt this franchise more than many other teams since the timing couldn’t have been worst.
The cap changed the landscape and forced some moves, but it was his decisions that hurt the most. Havlat certainly should have landed a better package. Redden over Chara was a colossal failure. The cap forced him to make tough decisions, but the decisions he made are still his own. Credit where it's due, the Hossa for Heatley move was actually pretty schrewd, unfortunately the way he did it was a black mark on the franchise.
Beyond that, had he drafted compotently, he'd have had the assets to find better deals, or the prospects to fill posiitions internally. He comprimised the foundation of any franchise, and that's lead to many future problems.
The reason why this team is mediocre through and through nowadays falls mostly on Murray. This ‘rebuild’ has been so half-assed that we can’t really be surprised that we now have half-assed results. Rebuilding team trades a first round pick for a bottom pairing defenseman from one of the worst team in the league? The biggest one, for me anyways, was not pulling the trigger on deals at the deadline when we could have cashed in big time on assets at their peak value. Neil was the most sought after commodity at the deadline a few years back and he should have been moved. Same with Phillips. What does Murray do? He keeps them on board and they’re now worthless and so embarrassingly bad we don’t even want to see them on the ice anymore. Brutal asset management.
Part of the problem now is that the team opted to try and remain competitive while rebuilding instead of following the Pit/Chi/LA route of hitting rock bottom. That decision likely comes in part from ownership. There is value in doing so; prospects need vets to insulate them and pass on their experience, but it does come at the cost of potential returns. I'm not sure the 2nd round picks we could have had for Phillips or Neil are the difference between us being a good team or a bad team though. We may have been able to cash in on Spezza, but an injury really killed that opportunity. Had he been healthy through 2012-13 and still playing like 2011-12, maybe we keep him, maybe we still trade him for a bigger return. Who knows.
Now look how Tim Murray managed the Ryan Miller situation. If Bryan was in Buffalo he probably would resigned Miller for seven years and traded their first round pick for Garth Murray or whatever.
Right... nice strawman.