Dear Stan,
Well, you proved you’ve got some tires, don’t ya? You wearing the daddy pants now? I guess you are. It’s your show now, big boy. Do you know what you’re doing?
We’ll reserve judgement on your picks tonight. Mark McNeil will provide a bevy of Dan McNeil jokes, and that’s fine. You’ve taken a big center who put up a boatload of points in the WHL. From what we’ve read, you’re lucky he slipped this far. Well done. Time will tell.
Dagnault? Jury’s still out. Points are impressive. Years away. Willing to wait. Whatever.
Moved Troy Brouwer. You know what? I really like Brouw, but I get it. A forward who hadn’t quite proved he could consistently be a Top 6. That’s fine. It would be my argument that some of that is being jerked around by Coach Q, but you trust Coach Q, as well you should. Brouwer’s versatility may be his downfall. And you know what? You’ve got Jeremy Morin ready to skate those minutes — assuming his brain isn’t pancake batter. He’s not as big, but might have more snarl and better hands and nose for goal. Not as big, but ok. But now you’ve got a team with no forwards with size other than Marian Hossa. Ok. Fine.
But then you really grew some, didn’t you? You couldn’t wait to unload what was considered Tallon’s biggest mistake, could you? I get it, on some level. There was nothing Brian Campbell could do to justify that contract to a great swath of fans (those who need oxygen to the brain, but whatever). We never hesitated to say that he was overpaid, but we always pointed out the purpose that he and few others could serve. But now what, Stan? The basis of your success was built on having a premier rushing d-man on the ice for 40 minutes a night at least, between Keith and Campbell. Who does that now? Wasn’t this regular season supposed to be about finding a way to reduce Keith’s minutes? Wax on all you want about your cap space. Though he was a boatload of money, I at least know what campbell provided for his 7.1. You now have a tomato can for over 3. Good luck with that.
You think he can provide the offense by himself? Did you miss the 1342 shots he banked off the first set of shin-pads he could find?
You’ve just gone all in on Nick Leddy. What exactly did he prove that he could carry #3 man minutes? Did I watch the wrong games? This is a kid who has 60+ games out of college. We know you want to prove how swift you are about picking this kid up and forcing him upon the big club. Now? Well, you’d better be right, hadn’t you? Because your coach’s entire game is about moving out of the zone quickly, making the right first pass, making the right decision at the other blue line. Or, in another way, all the things Campbell specialized in. What if Leddy isn’t up to it? What’s the plan then? Skate Keith into the ground? The answer doesn’t end in “Bieksa” or “Kaberle”, I’ll fucking tell you that.
Oh, and you just lost the one veteran voice you had in the room. While Captain Marvel was laughing off suggestions of missing the playoffs, while Patrick Kane was grinning like a goof, while Duncan Keith was throwing his teammates under the bus before admitting he didn’t care for a portion of the season, Campbell knew exactly what the team was pissing away last year. And he didn’t hesitate to say so. You got an idea to replace that?
But most of all, look at your team’s record with and without him. Explain how you make up the difference.
So now your defense, which you’ve claimed your team is built from, has a undeniably elite top pair. It has a second pair made up of one d-man who took a giant step backward last year and now simply must make a bigger step forward (no promises there), and either a kid who is simply unproved and rushed or a signing that simply doesn’t exist. Unless you have some plan to poach Shea Weber.
Your 3rd pair is non-existent. You’ve just given Chris Campoli all the leverage in the world, and you have no other answer besides that.
They tell me I should wait until July 2nd. But unless you’ve got some Copperfield shit planned for the 1st, you’ve got serious questions to answer. And I don’t think you have it in you.