Sather won in Edmonton during a different era, no threat of the cap or losing players to free agency. In addition, the Rangers won their only modern Stanley Cup in a time when they could spend whatever they wanted on players. The Rangers continue to spend to attempt to win today, while sacrificing their young players. Signing Prospal is yest another example to getting a has-been player, blocking an opportunity for a youngster to get playing time.

JR reminds me more of Terry Bradshaw and Don Merideth.

Glovesave I was going to say, PLEASE add Brett Hull to that list. But I don’t even think he is that good on TV.

I still think Chelios has gas in the tank. He’d either have to settle for regular playing time on a bad team, or spotty play – maybe 20-25 games this season as a support player on a good team. I don’t know enough about Chelios to know if he’d be a good GM. I think Roenick is better suited for TV than the front office. I think of JR as a combination of Matt Millen meets Bill Laimbeer – fine for TV, but not so good behind the scenes and making deals.

We keep talking about GMs draft records, we should consider Sather’s dismal record of overpaying free agents into consideration when judging his time in NY. I think Sather will sail off into the sunset or be made to walk the plank in the nar future.

Roenick is sucking up to the Hawks for a position in the front office, saying he was always a Blackhawk at heart and should have never left.

This league changes everyday as well. 24 teams passed on Danny Briere in the 1996-1997 when he was a little guy scoring a ton in Quebec. Then came a change of scenery and rules changes that allowed Briere’s skills (and grit) to be properly utilized.

Like I said yesterday-I judge by wins and loses. Some GMs have been successful in fielding competitive teams, while not being able to win championships. Others like Ken Holland and Looouuu have been abel to assemble winners.

Brendan-let’s hope we avoid the types on no-where men you listed in your post. Let’s hope Kovy breaks the trend of moving from ATL to other teams. Will he be the next Joe Sakic and stay in one place?

A-hem. But I digress. If people want to love on Don Waddell or Cliff Fletcher, I see no issue with it. In my way of thinking, people are free to believe WHATEVER they want. And to express themselves, accordingly. Answering truthfully, I think I preferred the NHL game of the 1970’s. But that isn’t to say that today’s game is bad. Certainly, it’s a watered-down product from what it was when fewer teams were in the league. J.P. Vigier, Serge Aubin, Ronald Petrovicky, Andreas Karlsson, Per Svartvadet, and dozens more, would never have seen the light of day in the 1970’s NHL, if time travel were possible.

In regards to drafting, it certainly is important for a GM to use picks wisely. And, perhaps, the most important pick a GM makes is his first selection. Usually, that’s somewhere between 1-30. Even so, some of those first 15 picks or so, are very much “consensus” type picks, where … the GM … really doesn’t have to do all that much thinking. We like to talk about the 2003 draft a lot here. Would a GM really have “flubbed it, badly” by taking Ryan Suter, Braydon Coburn, or Dion Phaneuf with a pick after the lottery draft portion, but before pick #10? I think the answer is, “no.” Where assessing the GM comes into play … is to look at several years’ worth of drafting and determining how many of those “consensus” type picks were busts or impact players. And the second thing is, and perhaps this is the most important, is to look at how many IMPACT PLAYERS came from picks #31 and beyond, where the picks are far less “consensus.” This is where a GOOD GM, with a GOOD scouting department, earns its money. Certain teams do seem to find gems in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and even 6th and 7th rounds. To land some player from the sixth or seventh round, who is a #5 or #6 defender, or a 3rd or 4th line forward, is fortunate. But remember, was that 5th round pick “filler,” or a “find?” If it’s merely “filler,” it’s nice, but nothing to trumpet. The nice thing about it is … it didn’t cost a lot to find that player. You didn’t have to pay some inflated UFA price for him. And you control his rights for a number of years. And he becomes part of the fabric of the organization, as an original draft pick. If this forward is scoring 8-12 goals a year, for 25-points, it reflects an adequate find. It was a successful draft pick. 5th rounders aren’t expected to make the NHL, maybe ever. If the pick is a defender, who is logging 8-14 minutes a night, as a 3rd pairing, it is likewise an adequate find, and a successful draft pick. It’s better to have it, than not to have it.

Some of the players picked #150 and beyond, include the following: Peter Bondra, Ian LaPierre, Todd Marchant, Theo Fleury, Pavel Datsyuk, Roman Czechmanek, Ken Klee, Pavel Kubina, Donald Audette, Stephane Yelle, Pasi Nurminen, Arturs Irbe, Brett Hedican, Nicholai Khabibulin, Tomas Kaberle, Henrik Zetterberg, Steve Sullivan, Cristobal Huet, Evgeni Nabakov, Mike Grier, Vladimir Konstantinov, Pavol Dmitra, Chris Campoli, Martin Gerber, Petr Prucha, Sergi Nemchinov, Mikko Eloranta, and Mark Streit. So, some organizations do seem to be able to find some gems, late in the draft. Of course, finding them, and retaining them, are two very different things. Just to draft well, isn’t good enough. A GM might foolishly trade one of these players away. Etc. As I posted, the way to assess a GM is to look at (1) the standings and (2) the playoff results. At least in the post-lockout years, every team had to operate within $16 million of each other. That’s the difference between the ceiling and the floor of the salary cap. Prior to 2005, there were no restrictions on teams in regards to what they chose to spend, or not to spend, on payroll.

By the time you get past all the expansion and get towards the end of the 70’s, the NHL had started a divisional playoff format that lasted until the early 90’s. In such a format, 3 out of 4 teams, or in the 80’s 4 out of 5 teams would make the playoffs. So in order to make the playoffs you just had to avoid coming in last place. So you have a league where ~75% of the teams make the playoffs and ~50% of the teams just entered into the league in the last 10 years. Is that really comparable to this decade where only 4 out of 30 teams are expansion teams in the last 10 years and half of them miss the playoffs?

WBF, I agree 100% that I want Kovy resigned immediately and do not want the hanging trade deadline question being around all season. I do like having a Paminski, Kowalski & a Polskidawg on this blog though. Dziękuję Stashu.