Post by Disco Stu on Feb 16, 2016 8:23:33 GMT -5
I totally understand why a new GM wants to come in and put his own stamp on a team. I also understand why a new GM wants to hire his own coach, especially when a GM's first season with a team also happens to be the incumbent coach's final season of a contract.
What I do not understand is why it is not possible for a new GM to continue the plan of a previous GM if the previous GM's plan was working. If everyone was happy with what Paliafito was doing, then why didn't the people who hired the new GM do more to find out whether or not the new GM was capable of continuing the plan that was in place?
What we have learned is that when a new GM comes in and makes changes to the plan, then we basically get a new plan, which means that the rebuild has started over. The players thought we were in year 2 of a 3 year plan and it turns out we've had 2 year ones in a row. Based on that its not hard to see why there is a lack of motivation. There is only so much the coach can do in this situation. I'm rooting for Gilbert to catch on somewhere else and find more success there.
Next year, unless the team has a good start, we could be seeing another year one. Literally anything can happen in the first 10-15 games. The schedule could be tilted toward top teams, someone could be injured to start the year, the goalie might not be streaky hot yet (that happened this year), or the team could catch a lot of bad breaks to start the year.
I'm beginning to think that the hardest thing to do is transition from the first year of a rebuild to the second one in a three year plan.
The Oshawa Generals finished 8th in the conference and 3rd in the division in 2011-12. You could argue that this was year 1 of their plan, so to speak. Except they had a 4 year ramp up. The following year, they finished 2nd in the division and 3rd in the conference, won in the first round, then lost in the second round (they were swept by the #2 seed). This was their transition year from a bottom feeding team to one that accomplished a lot during the regular season and not too much in the playoffs. The following year, they were a division winner and the #1 seed in the conference, and they won the first 2 rounds of the playoffs, then they were swept in the conference final. You would think that this would be the end of the road for them because there are only three year plans, but the team was able to sustain this for a fourth season where they finished 1st in the division and conference, won the OHL title, and then won the Memorial Cup.
So in theory, it is possible. But if the Generals had come off their 8th seed season by starting off the next season poorly, it could have been all up in flames before it ever had the chance to go somewhere. But they started off their "year 2" season by going 7-3.
Lets hope our guys learn the lessons of this season and get off to a good start next year. I would argue that a team cannot go from a year one team to a year two team unless they get off to a good start in year two.
What I do not understand is why it is not possible for a new GM to continue the plan of a previous GM if the previous GM's plan was working. If everyone was happy with what Paliafito was doing, then why didn't the people who hired the new GM do more to find out whether or not the new GM was capable of continuing the plan that was in place?
What we have learned is that when a new GM comes in and makes changes to the plan, then we basically get a new plan, which means that the rebuild has started over. The players thought we were in year 2 of a 3 year plan and it turns out we've had 2 year ones in a row. Based on that its not hard to see why there is a lack of motivation. There is only so much the coach can do in this situation. I'm rooting for Gilbert to catch on somewhere else and find more success there.
Next year, unless the team has a good start, we could be seeing another year one. Literally anything can happen in the first 10-15 games. The schedule could be tilted toward top teams, someone could be injured to start the year, the goalie might not be streaky hot yet (that happened this year), or the team could catch a lot of bad breaks to start the year.
I'm beginning to think that the hardest thing to do is transition from the first year of a rebuild to the second one in a three year plan.
The Oshawa Generals finished 8th in the conference and 3rd in the division in 2011-12. You could argue that this was year 1 of their plan, so to speak. Except they had a 4 year ramp up. The following year, they finished 2nd in the division and 3rd in the conference, won in the first round, then lost in the second round (they were swept by the #2 seed). This was their transition year from a bottom feeding team to one that accomplished a lot during the regular season and not too much in the playoffs. The following year, they were a division winner and the #1 seed in the conference, and they won the first 2 rounds of the playoffs, then they were swept in the conference final. You would think that this would be the end of the road for them because there are only three year plans, but the team was able to sustain this for a fourth season where they finished 1st in the division and conference, won the OHL title, and then won the Memorial Cup.
So in theory, it is possible. But if the Generals had come off their 8th seed season by starting off the next season poorly, it could have been all up in flames before it ever had the chance to go somewhere. But they started off their "year 2" season by going 7-3.
Lets hope our guys learn the lessons of this season and get off to a good start next year. I would argue that a team cannot go from a year one team to a year two team unless they get off to a good start in year two.