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Steve_Durbanofan11

Steve Durbano Fan
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Forum: Chicago BlackhawksJul. 8, 2022 at 8:29 p.m.
Thread: Weak Cowards
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Garak</b></div><div>To anyone that I ever argued with on here, I'm sorry. You were right. CHI's front office is full of weak lying cowards who were bluffing and never intended to deal from a position of strength in the first place.

I slept on it, and yesterday was still an awful day. CHI's GM, Kyle Davidson, chose to lie and act like he was dealing from a position of strength and consistently telling us he had no reason to trade Cat unless someone stepped up and paid a huge price and that he wasn't going to force anything. Then at the last second he folded in a HUGE show of weakness and admittedly didn't even try to get more.

Don't try to sell me the "no one wants to pay him $9mil next year" argument. Every GM that made a bid knew EXACTLY what they were getting into and Davidson DIDN'T have to sell them on Cat's $9mil price tag. Dorion and OTT got the steal of the century and they know it. Both him and Dach are young and are better for a long term rebuild than what CHI recieved. CHI has PLENTY of cap space over the next few years and could've paid them and still retained cap flexibility, if for no other reason than to stay above the cap floor. He also went around telling everyone that he was not the same as Bowman and then turns around and gets fleeced just like Bowman would have... Probably even worse than Bowman would have.

He showed the fan base and the entire NHL that they can expect a weak GM that isn't going to stand his ground and isn't going to make the right decisions under pressure. If he continues on the same trajectory, using the same tactics, we can expect another 20 years of mediocrity that will have implications that linger far beyond his tenure as CHI's GM, much like the dark ages of Blackhawks hockey. None of what they have done will be conducive to "sustained success" or "doing things the right way". None of what they did yesterday was even close to being "the right way". They made weak knee jerk trades and then turned around and made huge reaches on every pick when there were MUCH BETTER players available.

So, not only have they become an extremely weak organization on the hockey operations side showing zero signs of any light at the end of the tunnel, but they have not taken any real ownership of the Kyle Beach situation and made the necessarily bold public statements on what happened and how they are going to move forward. This organization is garbage and they somehow made it MUCH worse in a single day. Wouldn't be surprised to see the rebuild fail miserably and the Wirtz family selling the franchise in the near future.</div></div>

<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Garak</b></div><div>To anyone that I ever argued with on here, I'm sorry. You were right. CHI's front office is full of weak lying cowards who were bluffing and never intended to deal from a position of strength in the first place.

I slept on it, and yesterday was still an awful day. CHI's GM, Kyle Davidson, chose to lie and act like he was dealing from a position of strength and consistently telling us he had no reason to trade Cat unless someone stepped up and paid a huge price and that he wasn't going to force anything. Then at the last second he folded in a HUGE show of weakness and admittedly didn't even try to get more.

Don't try to sell me the "no one wants to pay him $9mil next year" argument. Every GM that made a bid knew EXACTLY what they were getting into and Davidson DIDN'T have to sell them on Cat's $9mil price tag. Dorion and OTT got the steal of the century and they know it. Both him and Dach are young and are better for a long term rebuild than what CHI recieved. CHI has PLENTY of cap space over the next few years and could've paid them and still retained cap flexibility, if for no other reason than to stay above the cap floor. He also went around telling everyone that he was not the same as Bowman and then turns around and gets fleeced just like Bowman would have... Probably even worse than Bowman would have.

He showed the fan base and the entire NHL that they can expect a weak GM that isn't going to stand his ground and isn't going to make the right decisions under pressure. If he continues on the same trajectory, using the same tactics, we can expect another 20 years of mediocrity that will have implications that linger far beyond his tenure as CHI's GM, much like the dark ages of Blackhawks hockey. None of what they have done will be conducive to "sustained success" or "doing things the right way". None of what they did yesterday was even close to being "the right way". They made weak knee jerk trades and then turned around and made huge reaches on every pick when there were MUCH BETTER players available.

So, not only have they become an extremely weak organization on the hockey operations side showing zero signs of any light at the end of the tunnel, but they have not taken any real ownership of the Kyle Beach situation and made the necessarily bold public statements on what happened and how they are going to move forward. This organization is garbage and they somehow made it MUCH worse in a single day. Wouldn't be surprised to see the rebuild fail miserably and the Wirtz family selling the franchise in the near future.</div></div>

The pain is just starting but what is happening now has been necessary for 3or 4 seasons already. The mini rebuild did not work and with Kane and Toews in there twilight years there was no salvaging it now, Aim for last place and build around Bedard and 3 seasons from now the Hawks will be back to have a run. If they don't rush Commesso they already have the goalie to make it happen.
Forum: Other LeaguesAug. 7, 2021 at 8:48 p.m.
Thread: Random thought about the AHL
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>BeterChiarelli</b></div><div>If there's a market in Houston, it's likely going to be an NHL one, not for the AHL. The population is too high and it's already got 3 of the big 4 leagues in it. I recall there being potential for the Coyotes to relocate to Houston a couple years after the Seattle expansion to bring them into both a better market and closer to their divisional opponents. I feel similarly about Milwaukee: I really think they have a shot at being the next expansion franchise if Arizona relocates (second if Houston merely expands into the league). I'm always going to want to see Hartford and Quebec City make their comebacks but the NHL seems intent on not letting that happen.

The only teams that aren't genuinely capitalizing on having their AHL teams close (within a 2ish hour drive or 1 hour flight) to their actual NHL clubs are Calgary, Carolina, Edmonton, Florida, Nashville, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, and Vancouver. The Canucks might be moving into Abbotsford so their presence on this list might not be permanent.

I think there are two components to this issue: the first being that not all AHL teams are necessarily owned by their parent NHL clubs (most are) and that the AHL itself has the same "issue" with Canadian expansion as the NHL does, but less in terms of audience and more in terms of inter-divisional travel. It would make a ton of sense to put Edmonton's farm team in Saskatoon and Calgary's AHL club in Regina (owned in part or wholly by their NHL clubs to account for finances) for both distance and marketing reasons, but the divisional alignment ends up rather screwy. Beyond that, it's still drastically expensive to own an AHL team: access to the facilities is the hard part, then keeping them funded and profitable is another deal in itself.

I don't know why Carolina lost control of the Checkers. That seemed like a pretty optimal setup.

I think my optimal setup for the teams I listed would be as follows:
- Calgary = Regina
- Carolina = Charlotte
- Edmonton = Saskatoon
- Florida = Miami
- Nashville = Memphis or Atlanta
- Seattle = Portland
- St. Louis = Springfield (Illinois)
- Tampa Bay = Jacksonville
- Vancouver = Abbotsford

Regardless, I think both leagues put way too much emphasis on divisions and because of that, they frequently get in their own way.</div></div>

I cant see the NHL being thrilled about knee capping the WHL by taking away 3 of its best markets especially when it is still to be determined what effect the Abbotsford team will have on the Vancouver Giants given they will compete for the family economical night out market. Memphis or Birmingham would be good for Nashville but I think Hockey is done in Atlanta as even there ECHL is technically in Duluth 25 miles out of Atlanta and still struggling as the only pro game in town.