Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The Dollar$ & Sense of an NHL GM

Colorado Avalanche GM, Francois Giguere was supposed to be a $ guy, an accountant, numbers were his game. And even with as long as he has been around the league, I don't recall anyone calling him a hockey guy. And maybe this team is what you get when you only look at the bottom line.
Brett Hull is a hockey guy, but they aren't going to leave him to cipher the complexities of the salary cap. Sean Avery made a mess of Dallas but made NY a better team. So there needs to be a balance.
Francois Giguere can't see that guys like Arny, and Tucker are bad and that guys like Bruno are good. Chances are FG didn't want to listen to people that told him about hockey sense, that's why his next job will be at an accounting firm. Though when you have guys like Tony Granato in Tucker's corner, it could mean you have the wrong people advising you.
I think the interview Adrian Dater did approaching the trade deadline was telling as well. FG said he wanted to make a trade and couldn't get it done. It's too hard in this day of salary caps. Pierre Lacroix doesn't really strike me as a guy that accepts "no-can-do" very well. You don't walk into PL's office and say, well, it's just too hard to trade anyone right now, so, oh well. That No-Can-Do attitude doesn't fly with team president, proud mastermind of two Cups. And though there are many legitimate slams on PL, he never sent this team to the bottom like we've seen this year.
It has been suggested that Eric Lacoix may be the next GM. And that this would be a bad choice because when he was an Avs player, he was hated. Several things wrong with that conclusion; of course he was hated, his daddy was the GM and anyone who has worked for their parents know they will not be treated the same. At least in this position EL would be the boss and who cares if the players and personnel don't like him? He's the boss, not there to be liked. At least this is a guy that has done just about everything there is to do in hockey. Player, scout, video coach, minor league owner. Seems better than an accountant to me.
Another thing people are saying is that PL is still running this team, well no kidding, he is the prez. So whether or not his son is the new GM, it will be a guy hand-picked by PL. Little difference.
Now why is Granato still here? Possibly PL will let the new GM decide what to do with the coaching situation. A lot of people thought PL was going to pull the strings on FG but it appears that he really did let him sink the ship and that includes picking the coach. So Granato may be at the mercy of the new GM.
Whoever is chosen as the new GM, I just hope this organization regains its hockey sense.
Posted by: From the Point

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