Well, that guy did hire a coach who took them to the cup finals. I believe the difference is who is coaching the D-men. We had Hall of Famer Phil Housley coaching the D-men when they went to the finals. He has moved on and the performance of the blue liners has fallen off.
- PredManDan
A coach that he fired half way through last season because he never could recapture that magic. Summing up the Preds downward trend to one assistant coach leaving is oversimplifying things too much. Subpar goaltending, sloppy puck management, player acquisitions that haven't worked out, and not to mention your three top forwards arguably having the worst years of their careers last season. I get why people like Poile. I'm not even abdicating for his firing, but at some point he's going to have to be held responsible for the mistakes he's made since the finals-run just like he was celebrated for what he did right leading up to that point. One unexpected trip to the finals and a presidents trophy shouldn't make you as bullet proof as Poile appears to be right now. Let's be honest, what major move has he made since then that has worked out? Let's not forget his track-record of whiffing on pretty much every high-round forward he's ever drafted either.
Complaining is kind of moot, since DP is about as bulletproof as a GM can get in this league. Some of that was earned, but the goodwill from past deeds has to ware off eventually... David has always been a Jekyll & Hyde type of GM. Even though Poile has not been afraid to throw money around to acquire or keep players he likes now that the Preds are no longer a cash-strapped team, at the same time he never completely got over that yard-sale/slight of hand approach to GMing that he had to use back when the Preds were on a very tight budget.
