Don Waddell will, eventually, win a playoff game as a named, full-time NHL GM. It is going to happen. Waddell was named the GM in 1998. Whenever that win happens, I’ll gaze at my calendar and say, “I thought it would be sooner than this.”

This is your official 10-minute Ranallo Alert.

New Rawhide blog in 10 minutes.

the Thrashers should have gone after Pat Quinn from Day One.
I think Quinn has the right personality to start a franchise, pick the right coach and step behind the bench if he needed to in a pinch.

Look around the league; most coaches and GMs are recycled every few years. Only Regier and Ruff, as coach and GM have stayed intact in one play over the past decade.

Attendence is horrible; it won’t get much better until the local media stop black-balling the Thrashers. Management has to address this with the local media.

When Waddell does something good, I give him credit for it. When he does something bad, I criticize him for it. Some people get hyper-sensitive that I advocated making a change at the GM position, after seven completed seasons and no playoff wins. Does that make me a KOOK? Does it?? Does it really??? Is that a fair assessment?

I am routinely saying that Waddell has done better in “Rebuilding, Phase II” than he did in “Building, Phase I.” I give him credit for Bogosian and Kane. Who knows what Daultan Leveille and Angelo Esposito will become for Atlanta? One of my favorite Waddell “coups” was the Erik Christensen for Eric O’Dell trade. Not to mention “netting” a 2nd round pick for the 40-year old Matthieu Schneider at the 2009 trade deadline. Is this Waddell-bashing, in your view? How so??? In what way?? Explain.

I think Brian Burke has made one (1) good deal since becoming Leafs GM. The Luke Schenn deal, at the 2008 draft, for ‘throw away’ draft picks, from the Islanders. Aside from that, he’s acquired a bunch of goons and overpaid for Komisarek. I might be wrong, but I think Burke actually signed the Jeff Finger deal. But I’m not sure on that one. I cannot rightly recall if it was Cliff Fletcher who named Ron Wilson Head Coach, or if it was Burke. I think it was Fletcher, with a pretty consensus understanding that Burke would become the GM, and that Burke’s intentions were to hire Ron Wilson. I respect Ron Wilson for all that he’s accomplished in his many years in the league. The one thing Wilson is missing … is a Stanley Cup ring. On the International stage, one of the top things you can do is win a Gold Medal. In the NHL, the Coup de Grace, would be … being the Coach and GM that finally, finally, finally got Toronto off the clock. That’s why I think I Burke took the job. All the talk of Ron Wilson being the “Marty Schottenheimer of Hockey” talk would all end, if they brought home the hardware. Toronto is a rough place to be a GM or a Coach. They’re both constantly under the microscope. And there’s no doubt, in my mind, that the Toronto media played a big hand in Burke making that trade for Kessel, at the expense of two 1st rounders, and a 2nd rounder, during a period of “rebuilding.” I don’t really support that concept, but it could work. It seemed like a lot of “risk” to me. And much of it “unnecessary.”

Now, what Jeff Schultz was trying to say, in my estimation, was that a Stanley Cup-winning GM might be available on the market, if “zero playoff wins over 7 years Waddell” were let go. Or was it eight completed seasons at that point? What does it matter? We’re still at zero. Personally, I think too much is made of that. To me, the bigger picture is, and has always been, that this franchise has had eight (8) top 10 picks with which to build itself. The issue, to me, isn’t zero playoff wins. It’s where are the Conference Finals berths? Where is the accountability? I’m delighted that Waddell is getting better. But who gets this kind of longevity, without tangible results? One division title is nice. But that’s not what they play for. They play for playoff success. That’s the season that matters. GM’s don’t chase division titles, they chase Cups. And if not that, then playoff wins, to please their owners, by making them MONEY. Playoff revenues are 100-percent pure profit. In Vancouver, they fired David Nonis after three winning seasons simply because the Canucks never reached the Conference Finals. When the Penguins were rebuilding, after picking Fleury 1st overall in 2003, Malkin 2nd overall in 2004, Crosby 1st overall in 2005, they FIRED GM Craig Patrick, because the team was, ONCE AGAIN, back inside the lottery draft for 2006. It was HIGH TIME for accountability. THIS DOES HAPPEN ELSEWHERE in the league. Were the Penguins KOOKS for making a GM change???? Were they really?? Truly??? They hired Ray Shero to make the “no-brainer” Jordan Staal pick in 2006. Ray Shero hired Michel Therrien to coach. When the Penguins were FALTERING again at Christmas 2008, guess what he did, KovyRules? Give yourself a gold star if you said, “he fired him.” Then Shero hired/promoted Dan Bylsma. The rest of the Penguins season is history: A Stanley Cup win over Detroit that Spring, in 2009. What’s the lesson? Accountability for results. It happens in virtually every other market in the NHL.

Lots of people don’t like Brian Burke. They find him to be an egomaniac. Or arrogant. And his track record of draft selections past pick #40 isn’t exempliary. But one thing he does have, whether people like it or not, is a Stanley Cup ring, as a full-time NHL GM. He may have “lucked” into Pronger at the right time, but aren’t many GM’s who win the Stanley Cup the beneficiaries of a some LUCK along the way? Alll-right-ee then.

Was Jeff Schultz a kook to suggest that the Thrashers, after no playoff success, should pursue a Cup winning GM? I say no. Would I have chosen Burke? Stop. I don’t think Brian Burke would return our phone calls. So the point is moot. I don’t rightly know, maybe someone can tell me, how many playoff wins Brian Burke has to his credit, as a full-time, named NHL GM. However many that is … well GOOD for him. He should be very proud. I root for Don Waddell to succeed. What else can I do? He’s the GM. He has to answer for playoff wins and losses. He has to answer for the DIRECTION of the team. He has to answer for the team’s identity. He has to answer for roster retention, contracts, and hiring coaches to mold and shape the team. When he gets something right, I give him credit.