The Reign of Sherm. For Better or Worse
by Cole D Hamilton on Jul 2, 2011 12:42 PM MDT
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PrintI was one of the first to jump on and overreact to the Varlamov and Liles trades. Dont get me wrong, I still think we paid too much on both deals, but its not about the individual deals is it? Its about what Sherman has built over his tenure in Denver and what he started with.
More after the jump:
The rosters below represent what Greg Sherman was handed on June 3rd 2009 and todays roster heading into the 2012 season. Breaking down each position, should determine how Sherman has improved, or hurt this team in his tenure.
Centers
2009--------------------------------2012
Guite-------------------------------Stastny
TYLER ARNASON-------------Duchene
Hendricks (Prospect)----------OReilly
McCormick-----------------------McClement
Dupuis-----------------------------Porter
Stastny-----------------------------Hishon (Prospect)
Hensick----------------------------Mercier (Prospect)
---------------------------------------Malone (Prospect)
A pretty clearly improved group across the board. We all know that the 1,2,3 punch of Stasnty, Duchene and OReilly is impressive, and adding a decent prospect cupboard with Malone and Hishon to boot is a lot to do in 3 years. Especially when you start with TYLER ARNASON AS YOUR 2ND LIKE CENTER
Left Wing
2009----------------------------------2012
Smyth---------------------------------Mueller
Wolski---------------------------------Landeskog (Prospect)
McLeod-------------------------------Lindstrom
Durno (Prospect)------------------Galiardi
Ledin (Prospect)-------------------Winnik
Galiardi (Prospect)----------------Bordeleau (Prospect)
Stoa (Prospect)--------------------Stoa (Still a sucky prospect)
-----------------------------------------Olver (Prospect)
Left wing is arguably the Av's weakest position heading into training camp, and yet, the improvements are still clear. Without Muellers concussion, you're looking at an enormous improvement from Smyth and Wolski, to Landeskog and Mueller. Landeskog should develop into the best player on either list here, but beyond him the LW Prospects are weak, weak, weak.
Right Wing
2009-----------------------------------2012
Laperriere----------------------------Hejduk
DARCY TUCKER------------------Jones
Hejduk--------------------------------Kobasew
Willsie---------------------------------Yip
Svatos
Jones
Stewart
The Avs still dont look great at right wing, Hejduk is about on par with his 2009 stats (amazingly) while Jones has taken huge strides forward. Of course, this group is missing Chris Stewart, who is an incredibly talented power forward with an enormous ceiling. But it ALMOST balances out losing Svatos and Tucker.
Defense
2009---------------------------------2011
Foote--------------------------------Johnson
Tjarnqvist---------------------------Quincey
Salei----------------------------------O'Byrne
Clark---------------------------------Wilson
Hannan------------------------------Hejda
Leopold-----------------------------Cumiskey
Nycholat (Prospect)--------------Hunwick
Liles----------------------------------Holos (Prospect)
Mackenzie (Prospect) ----------Elliott (Prospect)
O’Neill (Prospect)----------------Barrie (Prospect)
Peltier (Prospect) ----------------Guance(Prospect)
Vernace (Prospect)--------------Siemens (Prospect)
Macias (Prospect)----------------Liffiton (Prospect)
Cumiskey (Prospect)------------Chouinard (Prospect)
All i can say here is wow. That 09 defense was EMBARRASSING. If anyone can look at those two lists and tell me that 09 was better ON ANY LEVEL, they should seek medical attention immediately. This teams defense has improved tremendously from the prospects on up since Sherman took over.
Goaltenders
2009----------------------------------2012
Budaj---------------------------------Varlamov
Raycroft------------------------------Giguere
Cann----------------------------------Attikaliliatiliatlenko (sp?) (Prospect)
Bacashishua (sp?)-----------------Pickard (Prospect)
'Nuff said, its not even a competition here.
Say what you will about Sherman's recent trades. But its hard to argue that he hasnt been good for this team when you look at where we were when he was hired.
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Great write up
Looking at the big picture, you’re right, Sherman has really helped this team alot, and I believe this is the year to prove it.
LW- a lot depends on Mueller’s head, if he’s good to go we have a #2 and #8 overall pick on our top 2 lines, at ages 18 and 22, who bring different but necessary skills sets. Don’t undersell Lindstrom either, dude doesn’t lead the SEL in scoring without some fundamental talent, and he’s had time to mature as a player. I think he’ll put up surprising numbers.
This a great big-picture view, so important to see the progress we’ve made in such a short time. Speaks volumes to the Plan™.
Well Languished.
I was really pissed off learning about the 1st round pick included in the Varly deal, and still don’t like it, but with 24+ hours to cool off and reflect, I’m at least back to the “wait and see” approach. Sherm does seem to be trading from a perpetual position of weakness which is concerning, but he getting guys he wants at least.
Not that I’m ready to let him off the hook… there’s a crap load of pressure on the team, but especially Sherman, Sacco and Varly, to make the playoffs next season. Failure to do so would be a disaster and it’s not comforting to be going into the season with Sacco as a head coach when his only successful season as a head coach came from over-riding a red hot goaltender and both the main goalies next season are injury prone. I do hope the Avs will be quick to pull the trigger on a firing next year if things don’t go well (even if all they can do is promote Dave Quinn). The pressure will be that intense, the situation that precarious and desperate.
But all criticism aside, let the Avs come out and prove the hockey world (and many of us) dead wrong… let them prove that the pick won’t be that valuable and Varly was well worth it. If I have to eat crow for some of my recent comments, it will be most tasty crow…
I as well was not happy about the trade at first. The reason for my displeasure is the uncertainty regarding the 1st overall pick. I would have been ok trading the 11th plus a future 2nd for Varly. I just don’t like the notion that the team that has picked 2nd and 3rd overall in the past 3 years traded their first rounder. I would have preferred the certainty of what we gave up in the 11th overall rather than next years pick.
Like you, I hope I look like an idiot for questioning this 12 months from now. I do expect the Avs to improve drastically over their finish, however as we have seen, key injuries can derail a promising season quickly.
by Do Not Feed the Octopus on Jul 3, 2011 3:21 PM MDT up reply actions
lol
That’s exactly what I said.
[Insert witty line here]
by Cheryl Bradley on Jul 3, 2011 2:45 PM MDT up reply actions
Especially when you start with TYLER ARNASON AS YOUR 2ND DISLIKE CENTER
Fixed that for you
#FireBobBradley
2011 Buffalo Bills - as of right now, guaranteed not to lose a game this year!
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I think Sherm has done okay. But…. a lot of these young guys are do to the team being bad and us capitalizing on high draft choices. That being said, the cupboard has some delish talent in it (which is more than i can say about mine), and Sherm and Co. deserve credit for that. I’d say he hasn’t always made trades that we can say we’ve won, but he has built a roster that is starting to shape out pretty decently, which is the main job of the GM anyway.
Sports don't build character, they reveal it
The team being bad contributed to Duchene and Landeskog (whom we’ve yet to see play). Everyone else is due to the fact that the Avs (since the lockout) haven’t traded away picks for high price FAs at the trade deadline, and they have allowed their scouts to use those picks to restock the cupboard.
Datsyuk may have done it first, but he learned it from Peter Forsberg.
Thanks for everything Foppa!
Footer: We'll miss seeing you clear the riff raff off your lawn.
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