nfreeman

And that's that.

This. Throw $$ at Duds to serve as president and hire the next GM. Then we start to look like we have a professional FO.

Chin up, my friend. TP is going to hit the mark on this one, just like, I believe, he has done with the Bills (with Whaley apparently on his way out and McDermott seeming like a real HC). And it's at least 50/50, and probably more like 70/30, that canning GMTM was the right call. Someone pls post the "get out" gif.

Hammy on WGR: Brandon will NOT be involved in hiring the new GM. Hammy wants Dudley, either for GM or president/czar.

GA beat me to it. I have a hard time seeing more than 1 of Kane, Reinhart, Risto and Nylander shipped out, and frankly I don't expect any of them to go (unless Kane tells the new GM that he's not interested in staying). I think Lehner will also be retained unless he demands a fat, long-term deal. I think Lombardi is fairly likely; Sutter less so but still possible. Yes, but this at least would be chasing someone who accomplished something, unlike Rex. I think you're supposed to put forth a thought and then let someone else compliment it as an interesting point.

Outstanding. As I posted upthread, Elliotte Friedman, who knows a lot more about this than anyone here, said today that people will be lining up for the GM job.

Well, I generally agree, but for his last decade-plus with us, just about everyone in the NFL with any juice had zero interest in working for the dearly departed Ralph Wilson. Quite possible.

We also need them to have better advisers on these decisions than Brandon. Elliotte Friedman on WGR: there are going to be a lot of people lined up for this job -- I can already tell by the number of people contacting me.

No -- he does the job of "SVP -- Marketing" well. He performs terribly as "Team President -- Football and Hockey." Good post. Before the ZFG charm took over, there were quite a few questions raised (by me and others) about hiring a GM from an organization that had been mired in mediocrity for most of his tenure there. It's still not clear to me what GMTM accomplished, before PLF hired him, to earn the job. Good post, and one that kinda stokes my interest in Lombardi.

Here's a thought: if TP had decided that GMTM didn't have the right stuff, then better to pull the trigger now -- ii.e. before losing any of the offseason -- and get the new guy in place to plan for and execute new HC hiring, the draft, expansion draft, free agency, Kane/Eichel extensions, etc.

This doesn't seem credible. GMTM must've known that he was going to have to articulate to TP his vision for improvement -- and he "didn't have any answers?" So he sat there in silence? As I mentioned above, it seems reasonable that TP would've held GMTM accountable for icing a lousy team -- especially for the disgraceful post-bye-week performance -- and firiing DDB as part of a housecleaning would make sense too. But TP firing GMTM because GMTM "had no answers" in their meeting? No.

I will be deeply dismayed if TP announces that RB will have a big role in helping find the next GM/President of Hockey operations.

Very nice. This is a good point, and one that TP probably took into consideration -- i.e. why is the cupboard bare?

I think TP looked at the overall situation -- i.e. GMTM spent pretty close to the cap and spent much of his draft pick/trade/cap space currency -- concluded that the results were terrible -- especially relative to teams like Calgary and Toronto -- and held GMTM accountable. It's a quick trigger for a GM hire, but the GM is ultimately accountable for putting together a good team. I hope so. Yes. That works for me.

This probably means that DDB was GMTM's hire, not TP's.

Holy mackerel.

I was really hoping for an announcement from the Sabres this morning...

Pepperoni remains the Gretzky of toppings -- everything else is a distant second place. Mushrooms are a good pairing with pepperoni -- but so is double pepperoni.

You must be unfamiliar with the works of Liger and Wookie.

Hammy: he was interviewing DDB in Pittsburgh this year, Malkin walked by, DDB said hello, Malkin said nothing and kept walking.

Hammy: there are "quite a few" players that "despise" playing for DDB.

Very nice.

I think it's quite possible Jack's agent/friend/family member leaked it to influence TP and GMTM. Because most GMs get a 2nd bite at the choose-a-coach apple. OK, but what else is he going to say? Now that is some high-quality smarm. Last season, the way Hammy characterized Gionta's reaction to Kane missing practice was utter BS and clearly fabricated to support Hammy's story. Having said all that, my 2 cents are as follows: - I don't think Hammy fabricated his "inside sources" statement. - I think Eichel's agent could easily have leaked it to Hammy in order to try to get rid of DDB. The agent might've concluded that leaking it might be the only way to be confident that TP would get the message, - Even so, it still seems more likely that the "inside source" is Eichel's brother/mom/other entourage member -- among other reasons, I'm not sure a high-powered NHL agent would give Hammy the time of day. - I thought Jeremy White's take was interesting, but he stopped well short of saying that his sources have told him that DDB is going to get canned -- it was more like his sources told him that Eichel heavily criticized DDB, and Jeremy theorized the rest. - I still think it's greater than 50/50 that DDB gets canned. Keep hope alive! Interesting, and very possible.

I should've clarified that by "raw numbers," I was referring g to goals and assists, and extrapolated to a full season. And on that basis, I would take Matthews' g-a-pts season over Jack's. Goals are more important than a few extra assists. As for nuances -- while I don't dispute Flagg's (as usual) excellent work, I also think there's a bit of stat shopping/cherry picking going on here. Corsi and Fenwick are pretty widely used, both in the fancystat world and on this board, as metrics for possession -- and Matthews' are much better than Eichel's. Certainly Eichel is better than Matthews in some aspects of the game. I think Flagg's point about zone entries and exits, and TB's point about carrying the puck and running the chessboard are rboth well stated and mutually reinforcing in this regard. But we can't ignore overall production and overall possession -- and we certainly can't ignore team success or an experienced coach choosing one over the other either.

Raw numbers: again, FORTY GOALS. SECOND IN THE NHL. AS A ROOKIE. Fancystats: Matthews had better Corsi and Fenwick than Eichel this year. So I don't see where Eichel drives possession better. To be clear: Eichel had moments this year that made me think he's gonna be a top-5 player in the NHL pretty GD soon. And he could certainly end up showing that he's better than Matthews. But Matthews had more of those moments this year, is much more highly regarded around the NHL -- including by the only coach that had both of them on his team and led his team into the playoffs.