TrueBlueGED

I dunno about right now, but in a couple months we'll be making fun of your fantasy football team.

I don't think it's as simple as being able to manage a hockey team better than a GM. That's taking criticism of individual moves too far. But I do think there are cases where GMs get lost in their own reasoning and biases where a perspective removed from the particulars of the team might be a more appropriate judge of action. GMs regularly make contract mistakes, whether it's signing David Clarkson based on one season or thinking Brian Bickell is worth a long term contract because he hit a hot streak in the playoffs. Most of these are foreseeable mistakes from the outside. It doesn't make the GM stupid or bad if they're isolated incidents. But on the flip side, being the GM of a winning team doesn't mean every decision they make is in the team's best interest. They're still people, and like everyone, make mistakes.

Smart teams do stupid things all the time.

Absolutely. And I love every minute! I basically view them as 80s action flicks with a lighter tone and more sci-fi elements. YMMV.

Welp.

I disagree with your premise. I don't think people hold Hamilton's credibility anywhere near the gutter that Harrington's is in. There's certainly a vocal minority (of which I am proudly a part of), but I don't get the sense it's a widespread sentiment. If you think Guhle can anchor a second pair, then you think he's at worst a #3. I think that's an awfully optimistic expectation. That he was our only legit D prospect for two years is probably the key reason he's been so overrated.

(That's a picture of Paul Hamilton)

Which makes sense. Most guys taken after the 1st or early 2nd simply aren't very good prospects. Agree on Guhle. The hype train on him has been out of control since he was drafted.

I like that contract for Washington. I don't think you understand how hard it is to find someone who can score 35 points skating almost exclusively with Backstrom, Ovechkin, and Kuznetsov.

Wow, I never would have expected you to be...every bit as old as I thought ?

Nope. He had offseason knee surgery and missed the spring. They thought he'd be ready for camp, but apparently not. Any staples he may still have probably aren't relayed to the window incident. Edit: That said, I still think he's a bad player and will forever hold him up as a poster child for why you don't trade up for middling talent just because it's "your guy."

I had something similar with white paint happen to me a couple years back. Clay bar and some elbow grease did the trick. Depending on the severity, that might be all you need.

Yup. It's almost like having been "in the game" means zilch for ability as an executive.

Point of order: we got Scandella, and that's working out quite well. Sure Pominville is terrible, but he'll be gone. That was a great trade for us.

Internally consistent this argument is not.

That's some grade-A motivated reasoning you've got going on right there ?

Not at all. I just don't think that's the only consideration when deciding to support an organization. I explained my other reasons above. Edit: FWIW, my analysis would be different if it was a higher up, such as Mirtle, behaving this way.

One could argue he's already done this. ?

Needless to say, I strongly disagree. Not only in stakes, but in comparability. Do you still have the same views on gun ownership despite how some gun advocates have behaved in public? I certainly wouldn't expect you to. Supporting an organization of over 100 people despite a couple of bad apples isn't nearly the same thing as supporting an individual despite that individual's personal behavior. Two writers being jerks on Twitter isn't a good reason to pull support from over 100 others who have zilch to do with them. Moreover, given how lackluster I think most sports reporting is, I find supporting quality reporting to be of value--I want other news organizations to see that quality content is rewarded with paying customers. If I could choose to support only select writers, I would happily exclude Vogl and Graham from receiving any of my subscription money. But that's not how it works, and given the state of sports journalism writ large, I think pulling support entirely would be tantamount to cutting the nose to spite the face.

In other words, Bogosian will notably improve the defense for...20 games. Pardon us for not busting out the pom poms on that one. At the end of the day, we're still looking at a defense comprised of 2nd and 3rd pairing players all playing a full slot above their talent level with 1st and 2nd pairing roles, respectively. To the extent that Botterill has done anything, he has increased competition for the 3rd pair. Unless somebody is a complete revelation, there won't be much impact in the standings from increasing depth when the top of the position is the problem.

I agree that's the approach. It has worked elsewhere and it can certainly work here. But let's not pretend it's evidence that Botterill has worked to improve the defense in any meaningful way.

Seriously, they're behaving like they're in the bowels of Reddit. I have no problems subscribing to The Athletic though. Not going to let the behavior of two overshadow the dozen others who are producing excellent work I want to read.

You were convincing me. You really were. I was feeling better. And then you ripped it all away at the end. You're a monster.

His terrible decisions aren't limited to defense, either. Big part of the reason his physical tools don't translate to more offense is his cement block of a brain. See, I'm actually pretty optimistic about the team long term because of the next wave of kids. It's just that looking at this year, I think it's a lot more likely to be ugly than fun.

I do think it's implausible that Dahlin takes Risto's job this season. I'm also not sure I'd even want it to happen--I want Dahlin in a spot to maximize his offensive abilities. Let the defensive responsibility come with age. I think there's a near zero percent probability that Housley feeds Dahlin 27 minutes and bumps Risto to 22. Furthermore, I don't think McCabe seizing the #4 job is inherently a good thing. He may just be the best of the bad.