Quote:
Originally Posted by Radek27
The only guy that ran the team in the last 77 years and won us a cup and we are debating if it was a success?
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Give me a team that has Richter, Beezer, Leetch, Weight, Sheppard, Gartner, Amonte, Sandstrom, Granato, Patrick, Turcotte, Domi, King, DeBrusk, Mallette, Janssens, Shaw, etc., plus whoever I can draft, and I will be able to run the team to the Stanley Cup also.
He got a tremendous wealth of talent when he took over the team.
Sandstrom - Weight - Gartner
Granato - Kovalev - Amonte
Nemchinov - Turcotte - Sheppard
King - Janssens - Domi
That's a tremendous lineup (look at those Right Wings!), not to mention non-forwards like Leetch, Patrick and Richter around.
The point I'm making is that he inherited a tremendously talented roster, and only a couple of the guys above were his draftees. In fact, he drafted fewer and worse guys than the average NHL, both before the Cup and after it.
And what about his trades? It's really simple:
Weight, Amonte, Sheppard, Gartner, Sandstrom, Granato, Turcotte, King, Domi and Patrick are superior to Messier, Larmer, Noonan, Matteau, Tikkanen, Anderson (and Olczyk watching from the press box).
It's just that simple. Even with his one great trade, his overall score on his trades is still a negative.
[Nicholls was originally acquired by Smith in return for Sandstrom and Granato, who got over 150 points combined the season immediately before the trade.]