Happy holidays everybody!

Happy holidays, hockey regs.

Merry Christmas, you filthy animals.

Merry Christmas bros

happy holidays n stuff

Pete DeBoer fired by the Devils.

And not a **** was given by anyone

Didn't get a chance to reply to this earlier. Kinda feel like these examples of Maloney being "incompetent" are tenuous at best, and pretty unfair in most cases.

Given Phoenix's constraints, I don't think any of these are all that indicative of big mistakes (outside of Smith). For example...

- Erat's been a relatively consistent 50 point guy but was obviously a buy-low option after tanking in Washington. Still, he only had one year left on his deal and (most importantly) was only owed $2.25 million in actual salary for a cap hit of $4.5M; for a team desperate for offensive creativity trying to reach the floor responsibly, that's invaluable buffer room.

- Gagner is the opposite (cap hit lower than his actual salary) but Maloney picked up a potential 2C with 3 years of manageable club control for a 6th round pick. Are you really going to gripe about that?

- Michalek left in 2010 UFA after the Reinsdorf & Ice Edge bids fell through. The fact that Maloney reacquired him at first opportunity should indicate his interest never waned; guy's a solid all situations blueliner and that's not exactly a commodity in oversupply...I know a team in northern Alberta who'd take on Michalek in a heartbeat. Again, are you really going to gripe about a Steady Eddie blueliner on $4M/yr? That's the market for his type.

Check out Turris' slash lines when he held out and asked for the trade. It was reclamation project for reclamation project.

That was not a pure hockey move, and it certainly sounds like the off-ice situation was untenable. I don't think that's fair to pin on Maloney as a mistake.

Poile took a similar gamble, in a similar market situation, and it's worked out. Those are the type of die you need to roll when you're in their shoes.

Possibly, but if I was Vrbata and I got identical term to play with the Sedins on a dark horse contender...that's a no-brainer. Vancouver was the perfect fit for Vrbata.

Since when is the GM not involved in drafting philosophy? I guess I should absolve Feaster of blame for the Jankowski trainwreck?

I think Maloney's done very well to identify the type of 200-foot players and bargain buys who help you remain competitive on a shoestring budget. He extended Marty Hanzal for a song through his prime years. He convinced Yandle to stay through the ownership mess and was rewarded with Norris-calibre play. The Vermette acquisition prior to their 2012 run was very astute, along with the signing on a criminally underrated Ray Whitney, who finished that year T-12th in scoring at like half the price of his contemporaries.

You can call the Coyotes many things, "boring" chief among them. But Maloney & Tippett were able to squeeze blood out of a pebble and enjoyed a stretch of improbable relevance.

he's not a 2C, i know it, you know it, everyone knows it.
well, not a good 2C anyway.

i see it having a zero-offense guy like that at $4m when you're on a budget as wasteful.

LOL! he was 21yo #3 overall pick that they gave away for nothing.
oh, and then he ended up becoming exactly the player he was projected to be.
you can't dance around this one for sure, they botched it terribly.

investing $1m vs $22m in a guy is not the same thing, no.

no, he was possibly willing to take much less money to stay in Phoenix.
the Canucks are paying him $5m, not 3.

draft philosophy sure, but not the actual picks. imo that has way more to do with the scouts, especially the deeper you go. not convinced that the GMs have much to do with anything past the 1st round maybe.

meh, not giving a lot of credit to guys for signing their RFAs
and lol Yandle 4 Norris, you're better than that

anyway you're right, Maloney is a genius. and now his team is complete dog**** somehow. not sure what happened, but it's not his fault, he's great!

seriously though, you've made your points (some of them good), no real reason to debate this further that i can see. you seem to think that everything he ****s is gold ... are you related or something?

Where did I say Maloney was a genius? I just think he's done an admirable job in a really tough (see: impossible) situation. Christ.

Re: Vrbata, that's an oversight on my part. Vancouver is a perfect fit for him, though.

twas the impression i was getting from you refusing to admit he's made a single mistake

but whatever, fair enough

Ahem, lol.

Of course I've gotta hope Maloney's legit - Treliving's basically his apprentice.

ah, right!

couldn't figure that part out

What an absolute dumpster fire of a year for Jersey.

yep

ouch

Maloney seems fairly replacement level.
We'll see if he has the brains to stick with Tippett. If he goes, god help them.

Don Maloney leaving the NYR for PHX was a huge win for the Rangers. Our drafting really turned around once he was no longer in charge of running the show. Hugh Jessiman anyone?

Lol Darren McIllrath

Is that general or specific derision?

Who are the good players that Rangers have drafted since then? Genuine question because I only know Kreider and Mcilrath off the top of my head

Scott Stevens and Adam Oates to co-coach in New Jersey. Oates coaching the forwards, Stevens the defence. This should be...interesting.

That is so strange

Also the best part:

It's either going to work brilliantly or be a massive dumpster fire and I'm leaning towards the latter.

Part of what made Oates such a disaster in DC was his idiotic ideas on how the defensemen and goalies should play. With him confined to a smaller defined role, it might not be so awful.