Chayka had next to nothing to do with drafting Chychrun or Keller. He was hired after they were done playing and all the scouting reports were in. He wasn't in charge of the team at the draft, he still reported to VP of Hockey Ops Tippett.

Just because you like a decision doesn't mean Chayka deserves credit, and just because you don't like a decision doesn't mean it isn't his fault. Everyone, including you, knows this was Tippett's team until the end of last season, and the good decisions Tippett made don't suddenly become Chayka's signature moves.
- Antilles

chayka was assistant gm prior to being gm at that draft; and was involved in amateur scouting/analysis. tippett's role as vp was supposed to focus at the pro level, not amateur.

so, not sure where you are getting your info from.

Chayka had next to nothing to do with drafting Chychrun or Keller. He was hired after they were done playing and all the scouting reports were in. He wasn't in charge of the team at the draft, he still reported to VP of Hockey Ops Tippett.

Just because you like a decision doesn't mean Chayka deserves credit, and just because you don't like a decision doesn't mean it isn't his fault. Everyone, including you, knows this was Tippett's team until the end of last season, and the good decisions Tippett made don't suddenly become Chayka's signature moves.
- Antilles

This is just wrong. 100% troll job.

I don't agree. Chayka has made some really good moves. Chychrun and Keller look like absolute superstars and those are his signature moves.

Hard to fault him for the Stepan/Raanta trade. The Hjallmarsson has been injured, but that's good too.

Perhaps he didn't get enough quality vets, and certainly not having a quality backup to Raanta to start the year was a huge mistake, but it's really hard to fault him for any of his trades.

The problem with Tocchet is that he doesn't just want to let people play. You can say what you want about not gifting people ice time, but then explain Tobias Rieder to me . OR the fact that after nearly 2 points per game in the AHL, Strome's first game back nets him 11 minutes.
- James_Tanner

Not saying he hasn't made some good moves, but hiring Tocchet is on him. How strome has been up and down is also on him. Too young and zero experience means he's learning on the job, and the team is suffering for it.

chayka was assistant gm prior to being gm at that draft; and was involved in amateur scouting/analysis. tippett's role as vp was supposed to focus at the pro level, not amateur.

so, not sure where you are getting your info from.
- Tumbleweed

His focus was on statistical analysis as Assistant GM, not amateur scouting. Unless you have a link I can't find? And Chayka as GM reported to Tippett. Almost positive even Tanner talked about that as soon as Tippett was fired, but too lazy to look up the link because finding him contradicting himself is almost a cliche these days.

And even if, for sake of argument, Chayka was 100% in charge of the draft. He took the consensus 8th overall pick with the 7th overall pick. And took the consensus best remaining player with the 16th overall pick. How is doing what most people would do somehow a plus?

The moves to judge Chayka on are the Stepan trade, The Hjarlmasson trade, and the hiring of Tocchet. Drafting the player you're expected to draft isn't some brilliant move as a GM.

There were a bevy of good reasons to fire Tippett. They got his replacement wrong. It happens. Yeah, the team has other issues but the coaching this year has been terrible. They hired a guy whose been out of the league for nearly a generation, and it shows....James Tanner

I guess watching games in Philly as a broadcaster doesn't count along with a few years of being the Kessel whisperer in Pittsburgh doesn't count as this generation? Hmmm...how many Stanley Cup rings does this guy have? How many finals appearances as a coach and player?

I am not a Rinaldo fan and I was surprised he made his way back to the league. This says a lot about the talent in Phoenix. Saturday night the hit on MacKinnon was clean. Girard's hands come up, what exactly is Rinaldo suppose to do? Talk about the golf in the Valley of the Sun? Most times when a player engages after a clean smoking hit, it to fight that player. It's stupid but that is this generation's stupidity. Girard's hands do come up in real time...I don't give a crap about frame by frame. What is Rinaldo suppose to do? Take a shot to make you happy?

A more egregious action by Rinaldo was on Sean Couturier the season after traded to Boston with a second left in the period he left his feet on a hit. Couturier was concussed and missed time but the league gave Rinaldo nada.

He's not long for this league.

His focus was on statistical analysis as Assistant GM, not amateur scouting. Unless you have a link I can't find? And Chayka as GM reported to Tippett. Almost positive even Tanner talked about that as soon as Tippett was fired, but too lazy to look up the link because finding him contradicting himself is almost a cliche these days.

And even if, for sake of argument, Chayka was 100% in charge of the draft. He took the consensus 8th overall pick with the 7th overall pick. And took the consensus best remaining player with the 16th overall pick. How is doing what most people would do somehow a plus?

The moves to judge Chayka on are the Stepan trade, The Hjarlmasson trade, and the hiring of Tocchet. Drafting the player you're expected to draft isn't some brilliant move as a GM.
- Antilles

statistical analysis at both the pro and amateur levels. i sure hope he was doing both before they gave him the gm job.

keller would go 3rd in a re-draft. maybe he got a little lucky there, but there is no such thing as a consensus best player available at 8. he traded up to get chychurn in a pretty bold move. there was no expectation for taking him; that was him being opportunistic. and the consensus opinion was he got completely hosed by holland on that at the time.

idk, i'm not sure how you can downplay those two picks. those guys have the potential to the 2 best players on the team for the next +10 years.

he completely misjudged the roster he had though with the stepan etc. moves. too many bad forwards and young guys who were not ready to step up.

statistical analysis at both the pro and amateur levels. i sure hope he was doing both before they gave him the gm job.

keller would go 3rd in a re-draft. maybe he got a little lucky there, but there is no such thing as a consensus best player available at 8. he traded up to get chychurn in a pretty bold move. there was no expectation for taking him; that was him being opportunistic. and the consensus opinion was he got completely hosed by holland on that at the time.

idk, i'm not sure how you can downplay those two picks. those guys have the potential to the 2 best players on the team for the next +10 years.

he completely misjudged the roster he had though with the stepan etc. moves. too many bad forwards and young guys who were not ready to step up.
- Tumbleweed

Being the two best players on the yotez, isn't really saying much given how awful the team is.

His focus was on statistical analysis as Assistant GM, not amateur scouting. Unless you have a link I can't find? And Chayka as GM reported to Tippett. Almost positive even Tanner talked about that as soon as Tippett was fired, but too lazy to look up the link because finding him contradicting himself is almost a cliche these days.

And even if, for sake of argument, Chayka was 100% in charge of the draft. He took the consensus 8th overall pick with the 7th overall pick. And took the consensus best remaining player with the 16th overall pick. How is doing what most people would do somehow a plus?

The moves to judge Chayka on are the Stepan trade, The Hjarlmasson trade, and the hiring of Tocchet. Drafting the player you're expected to draft isn't some brilliant move as a GM.
- Antilles

While I promised myself I wouldn't respond to trolls anymore, I will say this: He made a trade to acquire Chychrun.

statistical analysis at both the pro and amateur levels. i sure hope he was doing both before they gave him the gm job.

keller would go 3rd in a re-draft. maybe he got a little lucky there, but there is no such thing as a consensus best player available at 8. he traded up to get chychurn in a pretty bold move. there was no expectation for taking him; that was him being opportunistic. and the consensus opinion was he got completely hosed by holland on that at the time.

idk, i'm not sure how you can downplay those two picks. those guys have the potential to the 2 best players on the team for the next +10 years.

he completely misjudged the roster he had though with the stepan etc. moves. too many bad forwards and young guys who were not ready to step up.
- Tumbleweed

I don't even think he really misjudged his roster. I was the one who said I thought they had a shot at the playoffs, he didn't say that.

He put together a team that was young and which had some quality vets. He got a starting goalie and one of the best defense groups in hockey.

However:

- Their schedule was insane. They played the most games, had three or four east coast road trips and played over half their road games by the first week of december.

- their starting goalie missed 20 of the first 30 games.

- Chychrun only recently returned to the lineup after missing 30+ games.

- A guy they thought *(with good reason) was a decent backup completely crapped the bed.

- Hjalmarsson has missed more than half the games so far.

- New coach, new system.

- Bad coach.

So there are a lot of reasons beyond him misjudging how good his team was. Currently, with a healthy lineup they have a team that is no worse than 15/20 other teams.

People say injuries are not an excuse, but their is a massive correlation between the health and success of any given roster. More so in a cap league.

6 games for rinaldo

A little defense of JT here:

On Rinaldo: His reputation is such that if he tapes his stick, he must be spearing someone. He was a Flyer. We lived with it every game. Any hit he threw that was on the edge...it was a penalty. He costs his team more than he can ever help them. He is not a good enough player to make up for it. If he had, oh, Rick Tocchet's skill set as a player, then he might be okay. He doesn't even have Craig Berube's. He can skate and that is about it.

On the Check: It was on the dirty/late/high side. There are angles where it looks horrible and angles where you say "he committed to the check and the puck was moved". Either way, it was a 4th liner taking a run at a 1st liner. We he going for the highlight real open ice check...yes. Did he bounce off (which is kinda amusing)? Yes. All in all, the check might not even have gotten him a minor. It is on the edge and his reputation makes it worse.

On the "Sucker Punch": That was vintage Rinaldo. Two players are coming at you, both with their gloves on, both chastising you for a "play". Drop your one glove and punch the one who is less likely to respond. Then turtle when the bigger player responds. Again...he was a Flyer...we saw this act. He threw the punch at a player who didn't have his gloves off and was in no position to defend himself. Was he approaching Rinaldo, yes. Was he engaged with him...NO. That, with his existing reputation/repeat offender label means suspension.

As for Tocchet. He was a bad coach in Tampa. He has his idea of a system and doesn't worry about the players around him. He wants his system run...even if they are not the right players to run it. He plays serious favorites and he will always play the vet whenever he can. This is not just JT, this is not just me. This is a lot of people who know the game better than any of us posting on this thread. Tocchet is a good hockey mind, a good assistant coach, but he is not a good head coach.
- wbon22

I stopped at the "it was a dirty hit"

I don't even think he really misjudged his roster. I was the one who said I thought they had a shot at the playoffs, he didn't say that.

He put together a team that was young and which had some quality vets. He got a starting goalie and one of the best defense groups in hockey.

However:

- Their schedule was insane. They played the most games, had three or four east coast road trips and played over half their road games by the first week of december.

- their starting goalie missed 20 of the first 30 games.

- Chychrun only recently returned to the lineup after missing 30+ games.

- A guy they thought *(with good reason) was a decent backup completely crapped the bed.

- Hjalmarsson has missed more than half the games so far.

- New coach, new system.

- Bad coach.

So there are a lot of reasons beyond him misjudging how good his team was. Currently, with a healthy lineup they have a team that is no worse than 15/20 other teams.
- James_Tanner

Those are some bullpoop excuses and I think you know it. No one in the western conference gets an easy schedule and they've played a whole 4 more road games than home games. Even if you were to give 4 of their away losses as wins they would still be in last in the west.

And every team goes through injuries and Arizona isn't even close to being the most effected by them. Vegas had to play a junior goalie this season and the Ducks had the dress half their AHL lineup yet both are still in a playoff spot. Not to mention 6 of the 10 teams with the most man games lost still have a playoff spot, with Minnesota and Edmonton still fighting for a spot.

Only one you probably got right was bad coach.

He didn't get a starting goalie!
He traded away a starting goalie in Mike Smith, And then traded for a backup goalie that many thought would make a good starter(remains to be seen)

He didn't get a starting goalie!
He traded away a starting goalie in Mike Smith, And then traded for a backup goalie that many thought would make a good starter(remains to be seen)
- camfor

i think that's part of the issue.

and stepan was really just a replacement for hanzal. wasn't a true add to the roster.

demers and hjmlarrsson were the only real upgrades externally; and one never plays.

keller has been the only internal upgrade. maybe fischer too... i like his game.

the roster wasn't nearly as improved as many (me included) thought.