Leaderboard

Just a little entertainment courtesy of the life of Brian.

Don that is amazing you and I had the same pick. Oh that's right we cheer for the same team. hmmmmm Well a guy has to keep his options open.

Indeed...as I noted earlier, many of the same people yelling at Bergevin for not making the Big Move for a scoring forward simultaneously reject the idea of acquiring Phil Kessel (!), because his cap hit is massive and he has holes in his game, and because the speculated returns seem too high. So to sum up: MB is being commanded to acquire an elite offensive forward who is also responsible defensively, has excellent character, and a modest cap hit, in return for spare parts; and any failure to do this is a sign of obvious incompetence or a lack of a will to win. That's not 'armchair GMing.' That's la-la land. At least JVD had the coherence to say he would trade Subban to get that elusive impact C. I think that's madness, but at least it shows an awareness that, barring freak events, all-stars don't just drop into your lap for free.

The last thing I want is a GM who makes huge risky moves just to 'put his stamp on the team.' MB's job is not 'put his stamp on the team,' but rather to build a Cup winner. If that means making a huge core-shaking trade, then so be it. But if it doesn't, then it doesn't. I see posts in this vein of 'BERGEVIN MUST MAKE A MASSIVE MOVE NOW!!!' as working from a correct basic insight - that it's time to shift organizational gears from 'building' to 'contender' mode - but blowing that truth up into a hysterical fantasy of Heroic and Dramatic General Managerial Action. I agree that the window is now open. I am less convinced by this hyperbolic craving for the hockey equivalent of a nuclear strike; smart moves, not necessarily massive and explosive moves, are what we need.

So has Tampa Bay. Guess we're as good as they are. You may as well say we've won three playoff rounds in the last FOUR seasons. Or five, for that matter. What a ridiculous rhetorical ploy to make things seem worse than they are. We went to the Conference Finals two years ago and bowed out in Round Two this year. Hey, guess what? Teams lose before they win. We're close. The question is how we can take that extra step.