You're Given One GM Do Over for the Rangers — What Do You Change?

[Phil]

Link:

 

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Mine is taking Tarasenko instead of McIlrath. That alone stands a good chance of reversing their fortunes in 2014. Maybe even 2012 Conference Final (Tarasenko was a 20-goal-scorer by his second season).

[Ozzy]

Zubov...Hands down!

 

I undo that trade instantly!

[Pete]

Link:

 

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Mine is taking Tarasenko instead of McIlrath. That alone stands a good chance of reversing their fortunes in 2014. Maybe even 2012 Conference Final (Tarasenko was a 20-goal-scorer by his second season).

 

This is the only acceptable answer, but still far behind "Don't trade Prucha".

[Phil]

This is the only acceptable answer, but still far behind "Don't trade Prucha".

 

Prucha forever. I can't wait for his jersey retirement.

 

Also, an argument could probably be made to even take Fowler instead of McIlrath. They played what, four defenders in the Conference Final against New Jersey in '12?

[LindG1000]

Zubov...Hands down!

 

I undo that trade instantly!

 

Yeah, it has to be this one. With Zubov and Nedved, the next few teams would have been competitive for another cup.

 

A few others:

 

Tarasenko over McIlrath.

Ryan Getzlaf over Hugh Jessiman

McDonagh trade to the Lightning.

 

Though, my personal answer? Commit to the rebuild in 02-03 and not 03-04. It's a decision that fundamentally changes so much, even in a drag-and-drop way, because it moves the six top 60 picks in 04 into the 03 draft, and makes us absolute ass in 04. You could go from

 

Hugh Jessiman

Al Montoya

Lauri Korpikoski

Darin Olver

Dane Byers

Bruce Graham

Brandon Dubinsky

 

to

 

Ryan Suter (our 03 pick would have been higher)

Ryan Kesler

Kevin Klein

Shea Weber

Patrick O'Sullivan

David Backes

 

and on top of that, picked higher than 6 in 2004 since we'd have been flaming hot garbage the next year. If we were 10 points worse, we get Malkin or Ovi.

[Sod16]

Park-Ratelle, with Zubov as a close second.

 

Honorable Mention: Middleton; McD; Ridley/Miller; Red Kelly debacle; McSorley/Kuri nonsense; Kovalev for Nedved; Brendl draft pick.

[josh]

Of recent events, I think I undo the Gaborik trade.

 

Torts was gone the next season. JT Miller was in his 2nd professional year, and off 2 consecutive WJC performances in which he played a shutdown C role. With wingers like Nash, St. Louis, Gaborik, Kreider, Zuccarello, he would have done just fine in that role offensively and defensively. Center depth would be Richards, Stepan, Miller, Boyle, Moore. The following season, Hayes came in, so C depth wasnt an issue.

[Keirik]

The letter and subsequent rebuild. How many times did it take the Lightning before they finally won?

No letter and no tear down means we likely retain Miller, we alrwsdy had Ziby, we likely still get Fox since he had said he only wanted to be a Ranger, we never get Quinn in all likelihood, likely never get Trouba and his contract, and we might have had 3 seasons of playoffs and potential adding to a team that had already been to a finals.

[ThirtyONE]

The letter and subsequent rebuild. How many times did it take the Lightning before they finally won?

No letter and no tear down means we likely retain Miller, we alrwsdy had Ziby, we likely still get Fox since he had said he only wanted to be a Ranger, we never get Quinn in all likelihood, likely never get Trouba and his contract, and we might have had 3 seasons of playoffs and potential adding to a team that had already been to a finals.

 

Wow that's a hot take. At the time of the letter the team was not very good and trending in the absolute wrong direction.

 

I think you'll probably change your mind after another this season or the next. Lightning and Caps and all those teams that tried to win a million times had one thing in common: high draft picks. Rangers have that now.

[Keirik]

Wow that's a hot take. At the time of the letter the team was not very good and trending in the absolute wrong direction.

 

I think you'll probably change your mind after another this season or the next. Lightning and Caps and all those teams that tried to win a million times had one thing in common: high draft picks. Rangers have that now.

 

I'm aware they were "trending down" but the point of this league is to win championships, not trend anything. It's not really that hot of a take. The year before the lightning won the cup they were bounced by the blue jackets (fixed typo from phone). A couple of years before that they didn't even make the playoffs I believe.

 

I'm not going to change my mind because two seasons from now we win our division. We weren't that far removed from a finals appearance, already had Ziby, Miller, Sheshterkin in the system, 26 year old kreider, Hayes, Buchnevich, ADA, 28 year old McD, Chytil, Pionk......

It wasn't a team of aging guys. It had a decent mix. I'm not even saying to not trade Nash because he was done. I'm saying it wasn't a team that needed a tear down. New coach and a retool would have been fine to make another cup run.

[Phil]

The Lightning rebuilt on the fly. Stamkos was the '08 Draft. Hedman, '09. But along the way they made a bunch of transactions to remake the team and traded out Brad Richards, Jan Hlavac, Dan Boyle, Filip Kuba, Jussi Jokinen, Mark Recchi, let Pavel Kubina, Cory Sarich, and Ruslan Fedotenko walk in free agency, and bought out Vinny Prospal.

[josh]

I'm aware they were "trending down" but the point of this league is to win championships, not trend anything. It's not really that, hot of a take. The year before the lightning won the cup they were bounced by the lightning. A couple of years before that they didn't even make the playoffs I believe.

 

I'm not going to change my mind becusse two seasons from now we win our division. We weren't that far removed from a finals appearance, alrwsdy had Ziby, Miller, Sheshterkin in the system, 26 year old kreider, Hayes, Buchnevich, ADA, 28 year old McD, Chytil, Pionk......

It wasn't a team of aging guys. It had a decent mix. I'm not even saying to not trade Nash because he was done. I'm saying it wasn't a team that needed a tear down. New coach and a retool would have been fine to make another cup run.

 

All of those guys were hitting/close to hitting free agency. They couldn’t fit that non-playoff team under the cap.

[Keirik]

The Lightning rebuilt on the fly. Stamkos was the '08 Draft. Hedman, '09. But along the way they made a bunch of transactions to remake the team and traded out Brad Richards, Jan Hlavac, Dan Boyle, Filip Kuba, Jussi Jokinen, Mark Recchi, let Pavel Kubina, Cory Sarich, and Ruslan Fedotenko walk in free agency, and bought out Vinny Prospal.

 

That's partly my point. They didn't put out a letter and trade people just for the fuck of it. The McD/Miller trade was horrible in my opinion. So was the Quinn hiring. We didn't need a tear down. We needed better on the fly managing.

[josh]

That lineup would be 100m

KZB

Panarin Strome Fast

Miller Hayes Zucc

Lias Chytil Smith

 

McDonagh Pionk

Skjei Shattenkirk

Staal Deangelo

 

Lundqvist

Shesterkin

[Sod16]

It's become an article of faith, a totem of sorts, that the letter, subsequent overly scripted tear down, and rebuild, were a good idea. I disagree. We could have had Fox and Panarin without the rebuild, and the two picks were luck. The centerpiece of the tear down was a terrible trade.

[Keirik]

All of those guys were hitting/close to hitting free agency. They couldn’t fit that non-playoff team under the cap.

 

Well, im not saying the team would have to have been 100% exactly the same. Just that it didnt need a full tear down. McD wasnt remotely done and they thought he was. Nash and Zucc I kind of get although with Zucc, I feel like they might have found a way to make it work on a shorter deal or lesser money since he never wanted to leave. Hayes likely means no Strome but I think that would be a wash and if our 1/2 C depth was Ziby/Hayes or Miller we were fine.Instead of hiring a coach that didn't know wtf to do, we could have gotten a coach with NHL experience. I forget exactly who was out there that summer but im sure there were better options that Quinn, especially on a team that was one year removed from the playoffs and a decent core.

[Bugg]

Phil Esposito swears that sometime in 1981/82, the Oilers offered him Messier and Gretzky for $1 million and some empties, and that the bosses at then Gulf & Western or Paramount refused.

 

Or the Bolts did not get cold feet about a DelZotto/Stamkos swap.

[Keirik]

That lineup would be 100m

KZB

Panarin Strome Fast

Miller Hayes Zucc

Lias Chytil Smith

 

McDonagh Pionk

Skjei Shattenkirk

Staal Deangelo

 

Lundqvist

Shesterkin

 

They obviously wouldn't have Panarin first. Probably not Zucc at the dollar figures the Wild paid. Second you know you cant actually do that. Who knows if ADA puts up top points, Stattenkirk probably gets removed in one way or another. and if Shesty came over, he isn't getting large bucks as a backup, or he stays in Russia likely until last year playing his first NHL season. I think youre taking what im saying and running it a bit more than im intending. I'm not saying zero people ever get traded. I'm saying it didnt need a full rebuild. A retool of new coach + some additions and some subtractions. Not every single player exactly the same + every player we have now sans Kakko and ALF.

[BrooksBurner]

The letter and subsequent rebuild. How many times did it take the Lightning before they finally won?

No letter and no tear down means we likely retain Miller, we alrwsdy had Ziby, we likely still get Fox since he had said he only wanted to be a Ranger, we never get Quinn in all likelihood, likely never get Trouba and his contract, and we might have had 3 seasons of playoffs and potential adding to a team that had already been to a finals.

 

Damn, this is a good one. To be honest, the main driver for me throwing in the towel was thinking McDonagh was more done than not. If we knew how much he'd have left in the tank, combined with getting Fox and possibly getting Panarin as well to supplement, it certainly makes you think a bit.

 

There's a lot riding on the shoulders of Kakko and Lafreniere to make it all worth it.

[BrooksBurner]

They obviously wouldn't have Panarin first. Probably not Zucc at the dollar figures the Wild paid. Second you know you cant actually do that. Who knows if ADA puts up top points, Stattenkirk probably gets removed in one way or another. and if Shesty came over, he isn't getting large bucks as a backup, or he stays in Russia likely until last year playing his first NHL season. I think youre taking what im saying and running it a bit more than im intending. I'm not saying zero people ever get traded. I'm saying it didnt need a full rebuild. A retool of new coach + some additions and some subtractions. Not every single player exactly the same + every player we have now sans Kakko and ALF.

 

I think they'd have Panarin, but not a couple of others. They would have found a way with how badly Panarin wanted to come here.

[Pete]

I'm aware they were "trending down" but the point of this league is to win championships, not trend anything. It's not really that, hot of a take. The year before the lightning won the cup they were bounced by the lightning. A couple of years before that they didn't even make the playoffs I believe.

 

I'm not going to change my mind becusse two seasons from now we win our division. We weren't that far removed from a finals appearance, alrwsdy had Ziby, Miller, Sheshterkin in the system, 26 year old kreider, Hayes, Buchnevich, ADA, 28 year old McD, Chytil, Pionk......

It wasn't a team of aging guys. It had a decent mix. I'm not even saying to not trade Nash because he was done. I'm saying it wasn't a team that needed a tear down. New coach and a retool would have been fine to make another cup run.

 

It's a hot take in so far as the context of, if you only had one do over, that would be it...There are far worse decisions this org has made than deciding to rebuild a team that wasn't really competitive anymore.

[CBrowningPI]

It was pretty hard watching McDonagh dominate in the playoffs and to see JT Miller playing so well. Que, sera sera.

[Keirik]

It's a hot take in so far as the context of, if you only had one do over, that would be it...There are far worse decisions this org has made than deciding to rebuild a team that wasn't really competitive anymore.

 

To me it’s the worst decision because the end goal of any team is to win the Stanley cup. That easily was the closest team to actually achieving that in our lifetime sans 94 for those old enough to appreciate it. There were some key guys with cup final experience on the team, some younger guys that were up and coming that also had a taste of Stanley cup playoffs, and a few younger guys coming into their own. Plus one of the greatest Ranger of all time in Henrik still chasing a cup that as an organization we said we weren’t going to chase a cup during his final few years so let us know where u want us to send your bags to.

 

Look that’s great we have hope for our future. We landed on two fantastic picks with our suckery. However, we are nearly 30 years removed from a championship and we keep saying “can’t wait until we rid ourselves of Trouba and Kreider which will be the 10 year anniversary of making a final and losing. We aren’t exactly the pinnacle of success and I’d prefer we just kept faith in the only guys that sniffed success than Quinning for a few years amid punching and sucking.

[BrooksBurner]

Keirik ruffling feathers during a slow period of the offseason. I like it

[Keirik]

Lol I just want to win before I’m a geriatric patient with Alzheimer’s