| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| The 4th Line Banger |
Posted - 05/09/2011 : 11:02:25
GM's hand out million and millions of dollars and spend countless sleepless nights thinking about how to get their teams just right. The right coaches, the right players, the right trainers, the right everything. So often these GM's are criticized publicly on their decisions. Guys like Brian Burke and Bryan Murray are a few of the most heavily scrutinized GM's. Both have won Cups. Both have built winning teams virtually everywhere they went. Both get thrown under the bus at the first sign of their team not playing well. Some is deserved, most is not. The world of a GM is not what have you done but more what have you done lately.
This brings me to the playoffs. This has to be the most stressful time for anyone in hockey management as this is the litmus test. This is where the rubber meets the road and where the decisions one has made for the past few years are measured. Then, the unthinkable happens. Your best players are no longer your best players. There are various examples of this so far in these years’ playoffs. Look at Washington as possibly the best example of this. They were built on a group of Ovechkin, Backstrom, Green, and Semin. I need not tell anyone about 75% of that group dumping in their bed! Look at Vancouver, who has performed ok to this point, but have not been anything like they were in the regular season. The Sedin's have pulled their playoff Houdini act, Kesler went the entire 7 games against Chicago without a goal, and Loungo was pulled due to poor performance. If Kesler did not turn around his game against Nashville, that series might be over already. Vancouver has the luxury of been very deep, but their performance will not win a Cup. Then one could look at Philadelphia and say that not a single player on their team was great. Giroux and Briere did ok, but they also disappeared for games at a time.
I don't envy the life of a GM. Million and million on talent and when they are needed the most, they disappear. The Cup winner is almost always the team with their best players playing their best.
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| FutureKesler |
Posted - 05/09/2011 : 20:08:14
Well, Ok.
”If I play badly I'll pick a fight in the third, just to get into a fight. I'll break a guy's leg to win, I don't care. Afterward I say, 'Yeah all right I played badly, but I won the fight so who gives a damn.” - Derek Sanderson
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