callitwhatyouwant wrote: ↑03 Apr 2025 10:55 am
Listening to a couple hockey channels on youtube the past 24 hours, it seems the growing consensus is that Army will win the Jim Gregory GM of the year award. We obviously know his career numbers as he is top 10 in the league all time for wins, tops in the league for win percentage among GM's who have done the job more than 10 years, won a Stanley Cup, coveted in Canada etc etc etc.
But looking at the season in a vacuum as that is what the award is for. Is this one of the best GM jobs in history? The offer sheet play was the talk of the summer. It happened in a huge hockey lull and the Blues and Oilers became the top conversation for those who listen to hockey podcasts and news for a full week. Every day was a roller coaster with Edmonton fans saying these 2 were the best thing ever, then the next day when it looked like they were walking "these 2 are so overrated that money is stupid." rinse repeat for 7 days. Well it's fair to say like Rivers yesterday on 101, just give these guys 8x8 and be done with it. The gamble paid off. Take another gamble and you might have a huge steal 5 years from now. That is point 1.
Point 2 for Army was the hiring of Monty. This was a no brainer as we all saw this coming from last season but it seemed like an impossible task and bad timing for the Blues with Monty getting past the 1st round. The only thing that was difficult was Army had to fire a contracted coach and hire Monty. This was BOLD and not many GM's would do that. He had to convince Stillman and Co to buck up that extra money too.
Point 3 MASSIVE trade for Fowler while giving up peanuts. Blues basically got a free top pairing defensemen who is careering in half a season as a Blue. This goes to show that you can find good trades for vets from bad teams without giving up anything. People especially on this board called Fowler washed. He just had been playing on a bad team. Monty said that Fowler/Parayko pairing was the best pairing he had ever coached at any spot. Huge steal for the man Army
Point 4 Snuggy. Some posters on this board as well as a lot of posters on Reddit bought in that Snuggy didn't want to be here. He would never play for the Blues and would eventually sign with the Mild. That was pushed for over 2 years. Sure enough, Snuggy signs as a Blue for 3 seasons. I still remember earlier in the year. "What GM goes to the players house and has dinner with them if he isn't trying to convince him to be a Blue. This isn't normal. Army didn't do that for DD." Stupid remarks.
If the Blues make the playoffs, that will be point 5 an seal the deal. Dude is on FIRE.
Shoutout to him doing this and mentoring Steener in the process. That has to be a lot of fun.
Agreed. Not sure Point 4 is necessarily GM of the Year worthy, but for what it's worth he's handled both the Snuggerud and Dvorsky situations well IMHO.
Instead, I'd look at his handling of the Saad departure, signing Suter, or even his deadline maneuvering to create demand for Schenn, only to have Schenn and the locker room force the issue.
Every. Transaction. Paid. Off. Even the non-transactions.
And, nobody is complaining about Leddy now that Parayko is hurt. Even his unpopular move years ago (keeping Leddy over Perron) is paying off this year.
Bob39 wrote: ↑03 Apr 2025 11:23 am
The offer sheet thing was great in part because it changed the narrative of the season coming in. It built up some excitement, kind of the opposite of how the Cardinals approached things. It has worked far beyond what we expected. Most people thought Holloway was a big overpay just hoping for the future. He might be worth the 4 million right now.
With Snuggy and Dvorsky on the way and Lidstein and Sternberg not far behind, it's a pretty exciting time to wear the note.
Holloway is only 2.2 which is the crazy part. Broberg is 4.5 and was the arguable overpay. But even then, Broberg was the no doubter and Holloway was the guy who you needed to see. It worked out well for both obviously, but Holloway seems to be in love with STL and the team. He has stated that he didn't expect it to be as easy a transition and he is loving it. Clearly that excitement spills over into your play because it's incentive to keep putting in the hours he apparently is day in and day out. They both should get the 8x8 if they want it. If not then they should get like 3x5-6
Yes, my bad on the numbers there. I also think we shouldn't underestimate the way that Holloway seems to have made Kyrou better (and perhaps vice-versa). They seem to work well together. And I agree, they will both by in that 8x8 range.
I don't know if I'd call this a blue print for a retool as some pretty horrible mistakes and wildly unpredictable and unrepeatable things got us to this point.
However though with the awards being for this one single year I think its Army for sure and really not even close.
It's not a reason for GM of the year....but for me how he is handling his own departure as GM is another move of example in putting the franchise first.
It's too soon for me....as it was when Lou Brock left the game after batting .304 in his final year.........but dam it shows smarts and class to know when its time.
blackinkbiz wrote: ↑03 Apr 2025 11:21 am
Stanley Cups, awards, playoff revenue, GM and coaches of the year ... Bleh. B O R I N G
I want DRAFT PICKS!
Could you imagine being a fan of a sports team and would rather the team be terrible, root on for hypothetical draft spots that you aren't guaranteed, rather than what is currently happening where you are the talk of the hockey world, there's hope that the team could make the playoffs and possibly make a run, young guys playing in the lineup, vibes are awesome at enterprise. I wonder what that must be like. Actively rooting against people having fun.
The best comment of the year was whoever posted that we needed to sell Parayko since his value is all time high. How in the world is your team supposed to get better if you do everything possible to cut off your legs and arms?
IMO that is always one of the biggest mistakes rebuilding teams tend to make. As soon as their high picks start to meet their expectations they are trading them because they are having a down year and this is a way to get "more picks and prospects"
Eventually you have to sink or swim with the players you draft. If you never give them the opportunity to win together then you never get out of the cycle of losing.
blackinkbiz wrote: ↑03 Apr 2025 11:21 am
Stanley Cups, awards, playoff revenue, GM and coaches of the year ... Bleh. B O R I N G
I want DRAFT PICKS!
Could you imagine being a fan of a sports team and would rather the team be terrible, root on for hypothetical draft spots that you aren't guaranteed, rather than what is currently happening where you are the talk of the hockey world, there's hope that the team could make the playoffs and possibly make a run, young guys playing in the lineup, vibes are awesome at enterprise. I wonder what that must be like. Actively rooting against people having fun.
The best comment of the year was whoever posted that we needed to sell Parayko since his value is all time high. How in the world is your team supposed to get better if you do everything possible to cut off your legs and arms?
We have had countless posts last 2 years about moving JB too.
Most all of this in the context of how this team won't be competitive for next 5-10 years without low draft picks.
There's that and those folks but then there's the haters. Those are the ones who aren't around right now when the team is doing so well. They have trashed these players and this franchise with glee to a point even they know cannot be reconciled with what they are seeing.
callitwhatyouwant wrote: ↑03 Apr 2025 10:55 am
Listening to a couple hockey channels on youtube the past 24 hours, it seems the growing consensus is that Army will win the Jim Gregory GM of the year award. We obviously know his career numbers as he is top 10 in the league all time for wins, tops in the league for win percentage among GM's who have done the job more than 10 years, won a Stanley Cup, coveted in Canada etc etc etc.
But looking at the season in a vacuum as that is what the award is for. Is this one of the best GM jobs in history? The offer sheet play was the talk of the summer. It happened in a huge hockey lull and the Blues and Oilers became the top conversation for those who listen to hockey podcasts and news for a full week. Every day was a roller coaster with Edmonton fans saying these 2 were the best thing ever, then the next day when it looked like they were walking "these 2 are so overrated that money is stupid." rinse repeat for 7 days. Well it's fair to say like Rivers yesterday on 101, just give these guys 8x8 and be done with it. The gamble paid off. Take another gamble and you might have a huge steal 5 years from now. That is point 1.
Point 2 for Army was the hiring of Monty. This was a no brainer as we all saw this coming from last season but it seemed like an impossible task and bad timing for the Blues with Monty getting past the 1st round. The only thing that was difficult was Army had to fire a contracted coach and hire Monty. This was BOLD and not many GM's would do that. He had to convince Stillman and Co to buck up that extra money too.
Point 3 MASSIVE trade for Fowler while giving up peanuts. Blues basically got a free top pairing defensemen who is careering in half a season as a Blue. This goes to show that you can find good trades for vets from bad teams without giving up anything. People especially on this board called Fowler washed. He just had been playing on a bad team. Monty said that Fowler/Parayko pairing was the best pairing he had ever coached at any spot. Huge steal for the man Army
Point 4 Snuggy. Some posters on this board as well as a lot of posters on Reddit bought in that Snuggy didn't want to be here. He would never play for the Blues and would eventually sign with the Mild. That was pushed for over 2 years. Sure enough, Snuggy signs as a Blue for 3 seasons. I still remember earlier in the year. "What GM goes to the players house and has dinner with them if he isn't trying to convince him to be a Blue. This isn't normal. Army didn't do that for DD." Stupid remarks.
If the Blues make the playoffs, that will be point 5 an seal the deal. Dude is on FIRE.
Shoutout to him doing this and mentoring Steener in the process. That has to be a lot of fun.
Agreed. Not sure Point 4 is necessarily GM of the Year worthy, but for what it's worth he's handled both the Snuggerud and Dvorsky situations well IMHO.
Instead, I'd look at his handling of the Saad departure, signing Suter, or even his deadline maneuvering to create demand for Schenn, only to have Schenn and the locker room force the issue.
Every. Transaction. Paid. Off. Even the non-transactions.
And, nobody is complaining about Leddy now that Parayko is hurt. Even his unpopular move years ago (keeping Leddy over Perron) is paying off this year.
3-d chess.
Completely agree with the bolded. Not sure getting a 1st round pick signed after their college season ended is GM of the year accomplishment, that's just part of your job, and I think they constant talk about Snuggerud not signing was mostly hyperbole. Getting rid of Saad while not having to pay to do it and freeing up cap space this year and next was a great move. Suter has turned out to be a great signing as well, he held his own playing with Parayko when Leddy went down until Army could acquire Fowler as a replacement. Not all of the off-season signings and trades worked out great, but that one certainly did.
callitwhatyouwant wrote: ↑03 Apr 2025 10:55 am
Listening to a couple hockey channels on youtube the past 24 hours, it seems the growing consensus is that Army will win the Jim Gregory GM of the year award. We obviously know his career numbers as he is top 10 in the league all time for wins, tops in the league for win percentage among GM's who have done the job more than 10 years, won a Stanley Cup, coveted in Canada etc etc etc.
But looking at the season in a vacuum as that is what the award is for. Is this one of the best GM jobs in history? The offer sheet play was the talk of the summer. It happened in a huge hockey lull and the Blues and Oilers became the top conversation for those who listen to hockey podcasts and news for a full week. Every day was a roller coaster with Edmonton fans saying these 2 were the best thing ever, then the next day when it looked like they were walking "these 2 are so overrated that money is stupid." rinse repeat for 7 days. Well it's fair to say like Rivers yesterday on 101, just give these guys 8x8 and be done with it. The gamble paid off. Take another gamble and you might have a huge steal 5 years from now. That is point 1.
Point 2 for Army was the hiring of Monty. This was a no brainer as we all saw this coming from last season but it seemed like an impossible task and bad timing for the Blues with Monty getting past the 1st round. The only thing that was difficult was Army had to fire a contracted coach and hire Monty. This was BOLD and not many GM's would do that. He had to convince Stillman and Co to buck up that extra money too.
Point 3 MASSIVE trade for Fowler while giving up peanuts. Blues basically got a free top pairing defensemen who is careering in half a season as a Blue. This goes to show that you can find good trades for vets from bad teams without giving up anything. People especially on this board called Fowler washed. He just had been playing on a bad team. Monty said that Fowler/Parayko pairing was the best pairing he had ever coached at any spot. Huge steal for the man Army
Point 4 Snuggy. Some posters on this board as well as a lot of posters on Reddit bought in that Snuggy didn't want to be here. He would never play for the Blues and would eventually sign with the Mild. That was pushed for over 2 years. Sure enough, Snuggy signs as a Blue for 3 seasons. I still remember earlier in the year. "What GM goes to the players house and has dinner with them if he isn't trying to convince him to be a Blue. This isn't normal. Army didn't do that for DD." Stupid remarks.
If the Blues make the playoffs, that will be point 5 an seal the deal. Dude is on FIRE.
Shoutout to him doing this and mentoring Steener in the process. That has to be a lot of fun.
Agreed. Not sure Point 4 is necessarily GM of the Year worthy, but for what it's worth he's handled both the Snuggerud and Dvorsky situations well IMHO.
Instead, I'd look at his handling of the Saad departure, signing Suter, or even his deadline maneuvering to create demand for Schenn, only to have Schenn and the locker room force the issue.
Every. Transaction. Paid. Off. Even the non-transactions.
And, nobody is complaining about Leddy now that Parayko is hurt. Even his unpopular move years ago (keeping Leddy over Perron) is paying off this year.
3-d chess.
Good point. 4 was more alluding to the confidence he had in snuggy's camp to sign when it was the right time for them. doesn't seem like he pressured them or anything. Actually, on spittin chiklits Army actually recommended him to back after his freshman year. And then Snuggy apparently came to him with a plan on what he needed to work on this past year when he went back.
You are right about the Saad thing. I should have included it as it was definitely something that led to more people playing a better brand of hockey. I also think it speaks volumes to how the front office is in terms of relationships with the players. How many front offices have the conversation with a guy like Saad and say "hey here is your trade value, it's not really there for your contract. You got the option to take the money or terminate and bet on yourself." Maybe that's a normal thing but when it happened, hockey pundits made it sound like Army was a magician getting someone to take their cap hit with them for nothing.
Transitions are never perfect. I remember when the Dodgers broke up their vaunted infield of Garvey-Lopes-Russell-Cey, well, Garvey, Lopes, and Cey all went on to help other teams make the playoffs in the 80's. But it was time, they were fading as a unit and they were blocking younger players. Clearly, ROR, Tarasenko, and Perron would not be helping this team succeed this season. Barbs and Mikkola are the imperfect, if you will.
All the moves led to this, now, and this run has been magical. There is a path forward into the future for this team in all areas, forwards, defense (transition largely pending with some good prospects), and in goal. And in the GM seat. The only thing that needs to remain is the leadership from the owner group.
Without Thomas and Kyrou locked up, without Broberg and Holloway, without Fowler, without the young forwards, without the 4th line that took several seasons of iterations to build up, without the trades that weren't made, this is a lottery team. GM of the year? You betcha!
I looked it up, 2 times since the NHL GM of the year award has been introduced 09-10 has the GM and Head Coach from the same team won the award. So it is possible that the Caps sweep this year.
blackinkbiz wrote: ↑03 Apr 2025 11:21 am
Stanley Cups, awards, playoff revenue, GM and coaches of the year ... Bleh. B O R I N G
I want DRAFT PICKS!
Could you imagine being a fan of a sports team and would rather the team be terrible, root on for hypothetical draft spots that you aren't guaranteed, rather than what is currently happening where you are the talk of the hockey world, there's hope that the team could make the playoffs and possibly make a run, young guys playing in the lineup, vibes are awesome at enterprise. I wonder what that must be like. Actively rooting against people having fun.
The best comment of the year was whoever posted that we needed to sell Parayko since his value is all time high. How in the world is your team supposed to get better if you do everything possible to cut off your legs and arms?
IMO that is always one of the biggest mistakes rebuilding teams tend to make. As soon as their high picks start to meet their expectations they are trading them because they are having a down year and this is a way to get "more picks and prospects"
Eventually you have to sink or swim with the players you draft. If you never give them the opportunity to win together then you never get out of the cycle of losing.
I think its more like those high picks get to or to close to UFA status before teams become a contender and have to be moved or lost for nothing.
Turns out you have to do more than just draft and wait, that is why Ive been saying being competitive now is still important or guys are not going to want to stay here/sign long term contracts.
That is why you give up a 2nd for a guy like Fowler etc.
