Joe Sakic should never, ever be mistaken for John Elway. That would be difficult to do, but even their job performance. Joe hasn't done a very good job.
Let's start with overall performance. I am limiting this to Joe's GM time which starts on May 10th, 2013.
Coaches: Joe picked a wild card in Patrick Roy. Roy only had experience at the junior level where talent would leave guaranteed every 4 years. Molding someone for short terms is difficult, but dealing with long term effects is harder. You can hold a grudge against someone in Juniors and be happy when they leave 1-3 years later. Patrick had no real experience and needed to work his way up. He didn't become a hall of famer just because he played awesome at the junior and high school level. He became a hall of famer because he worked his way up.
Next and current coach Jared Bednar is the same thing. Bednar was an AHL coach. No winning teams to speak of at the NHL level. I get it that he is somehow excused because of the short timing. I can tell you for sure I don't give sakic a pass on this one. He had Kevin Dineen ready to go. Kevin helped Chicago, who's coach we fired, win cups.
Drafting: The first year. I guess you can call this good but I don't. The Avs need defense. Not centers. MacKinnon is a solid forward. But Sakic had Seth Jones ready at D and passed. This is a near failure.
The next year he did another terrible job in Bleakly. The guy was drafted in the first round but never even signed a contract. He was a total bust.
//short
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Monday, January 2, 2017
Big 10: Big Losers
What a year.
Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State all caught big rankings and big year end bowls. All 3 caught the darling eye of everyone watching. Michigan because the powerhouse at the big house was back. Ohio State because they are the Alabama of the Big 10 and Penn State because they are the once scandal ridden team which was set to come out of the ashes and settle the score.
The problem: None of these teams did. The big reason comes in many forms. 1. Ohio State is a year away from competing. Yet some how pre season recruiting gave them the upper edge over better playing teams.
Michigan is not quite dynamic yet. They are talent driven. This will be displayed come the NFL draft when most of their defensive unit get's paid by the NFL.
Penn State was a victim of circumstance. They showed their true colors against Michigan but somehow won against Ohio State.
This should have been a forecast. This should have been a note of what was to come. But it wasn't. Not even this low level Wisconsin fan saw this coming. Hell Wisconsin should have been playing in mid December had the media picked it right. But instead the media picked LSU as the favorite. Then when WI beat a top 5 team in Michigan State they gave the badger a pass. When they lost by a combined score of 13 to Michigan and Ohio State in the next 2 weeks the media was salivating. When WI beat Nebraska, the badgers were locked in as a Cinderella.
Then comes the result: A Wisconsin team that wasn't ready to play at this level was thrust into the big 10 championship against a team that didn't belong their. Somebody was going to win and that team was not ready for the CFP or the Rose bowl. I'm not being salty towards Penn State.
My point is the Big 10 is about a year away from this season as being elite. That's going to show when Penn State and Ohio State do finally show up. The question becomes how does Michigan respond?
The next question is who will respond in the Big 10 west. The forgotten part of the conference.
My prediction is simple: OSU grows. This is a given under Urban Meyer. The guy lives for recruiting. Michigan is going to get a year off. That certainly doesn't mean a losing year, it just means a year off from this year. Penn state is going to play on, and they are going to play on until they get that rematch with Ohio State. At that point, everyone will know that OSU is far superior to PSU.
The west is going to get dicey, and weak. WI and their awesome year is going to fade to memory. The realization that the QB is no better than the fans at throwing comes to fruition. No running game spells a disaster for WI. I don't think this helps Minnesota in winning the Axe, but it does help Nebraska and Iowa.
Iowa will regain ground lost during this year. They will compete. Nebraska will do the same. The hiccup will come when they play each other. I don't think either will make it to the title game, but that game will decide who was closer to it. Nebraska will likely win and be the "we should be in the CFP" team. But they will in all likely hood face a better Big 10 East team that won't relent. I'm guessing that will be Ohio State. This win will put OSU in the same position they were this year: the CFP.
Where do other teams stand?
Let's look:
Michigan State had a very off year. You can learn from a loss, but this kind of season does nobody good. All that gain from the last 2 years is gone. Diantio needs to start fresh.
Illinois isn't going anywhere. Lovie Smith might have been a bears head coach, but he still has work to do.
Purdue is a Drew Brees away from competing. They only have had 1 of those in the last 25 years so here's hoping for number 2.
Northwestern can be competitive, but the structure of this season didn't help them. My best guess is next year will not either.
Indiana was the most under achieving team this year in the big 10. Curiosity compels me to not count them out, but then realize they cannot recruit.
Rutgers will probably win a game or 2. But let's not hope it's against anyone in the big 10.
Maryland is going to have real trouble in football. Here's to the basketball team!
Now let's show the forces in the big 10 west:
Nebraska: they can recruit and will. But most likely won't be enough to win what they want.
Iowa: They will return to the status quo in the next 3 years.
Wisconsin: Gary Anderson brought tough tests, and good recruits. Those tests are now over, will the recruits be as well?
Minnesota: They can win, but just not at the national level. Where will they fit?
Then the East:
Penn State: No signature wins in the last 6 years. Nothing to really remove them of their past that they so want to put behind them.
Michigan: 2 years of Jim Harbaugh and no big wins. Not a coach firing position but a kind of WTF kind of position.
Ohio State: No points after the Michigan win. Who shows up next year?
Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State all caught big rankings and big year end bowls. All 3 caught the darling eye of everyone watching. Michigan because the powerhouse at the big house was back. Ohio State because they are the Alabama of the Big 10 and Penn State because they are the once scandal ridden team which was set to come out of the ashes and settle the score.
The problem: None of these teams did. The big reason comes in many forms. 1. Ohio State is a year away from competing. Yet some how pre season recruiting gave them the upper edge over better playing teams.
Michigan is not quite dynamic yet. They are talent driven. This will be displayed come the NFL draft when most of their defensive unit get's paid by the NFL.
Penn State was a victim of circumstance. They showed their true colors against Michigan but somehow won against Ohio State.
This should have been a forecast. This should have been a note of what was to come. But it wasn't. Not even this low level Wisconsin fan saw this coming. Hell Wisconsin should have been playing in mid December had the media picked it right. But instead the media picked LSU as the favorite. Then when WI beat a top 5 team in Michigan State they gave the badger a pass. When they lost by a combined score of 13 to Michigan and Ohio State in the next 2 weeks the media was salivating. When WI beat Nebraska, the badgers were locked in as a Cinderella.
Then comes the result: A Wisconsin team that wasn't ready to play at this level was thrust into the big 10 championship against a team that didn't belong their. Somebody was going to win and that team was not ready for the CFP or the Rose bowl. I'm not being salty towards Penn State.
My point is the Big 10 is about a year away from this season as being elite. That's going to show when Penn State and Ohio State do finally show up. The question becomes how does Michigan respond?
The next question is who will respond in the Big 10 west. The forgotten part of the conference.
My prediction is simple: OSU grows. This is a given under Urban Meyer. The guy lives for recruiting. Michigan is going to get a year off. That certainly doesn't mean a losing year, it just means a year off from this year. Penn state is going to play on, and they are going to play on until they get that rematch with Ohio State. At that point, everyone will know that OSU is far superior to PSU.
The west is going to get dicey, and weak. WI and their awesome year is going to fade to memory. The realization that the QB is no better than the fans at throwing comes to fruition. No running game spells a disaster for WI. I don't think this helps Minnesota in winning the Axe, but it does help Nebraska and Iowa.
Iowa will regain ground lost during this year. They will compete. Nebraska will do the same. The hiccup will come when they play each other. I don't think either will make it to the title game, but that game will decide who was closer to it. Nebraska will likely win and be the "we should be in the CFP" team. But they will in all likely hood face a better Big 10 East team that won't relent. I'm guessing that will be Ohio State. This win will put OSU in the same position they were this year: the CFP.
Where do other teams stand?
Let's look:
Michigan State had a very off year. You can learn from a loss, but this kind of season does nobody good. All that gain from the last 2 years is gone. Diantio needs to start fresh.
Illinois isn't going anywhere. Lovie Smith might have been a bears head coach, but he still has work to do.
Purdue is a Drew Brees away from competing. They only have had 1 of those in the last 25 years so here's hoping for number 2.
Northwestern can be competitive, but the structure of this season didn't help them. My best guess is next year will not either.
Indiana was the most under achieving team this year in the big 10. Curiosity compels me to not count them out, but then realize they cannot recruit.
Rutgers will probably win a game or 2. But let's not hope it's against anyone in the big 10.
Maryland is going to have real trouble in football. Here's to the basketball team!
Now let's show the forces in the big 10 west:
Nebraska: they can recruit and will. But most likely won't be enough to win what they want.
Iowa: They will return to the status quo in the next 3 years.
Wisconsin: Gary Anderson brought tough tests, and good recruits. Those tests are now over, will the recruits be as well?
Minnesota: They can win, but just not at the national level. Where will they fit?
Then the East:
Penn State: No signature wins in the last 6 years. Nothing to really remove them of their past that they so want to put behind them.
Michigan: 2 years of Jim Harbaugh and no big wins. Not a coach firing position but a kind of WTF kind of position.
Ohio State: No points after the Michigan win. Who shows up next year?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)