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The Official 2026 Off-Season Thread: Revenge of the Nerds

hockeylover said:
The thing is they did an exhaustive process and most people said that was good but now it seems they only would’ve thought it was good if they ended up hiring one of one or two people.
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and of course, those one or two people wouldn't have needed any 'exhaustive process' to investigate - they are well known commodities that you get what you know with.
 
Volcanologist said:
and through that lens it's encouraging that they hate it. I get the line of thinking.

but we're still sitting here, in a market that is supposedly highly desired, with John Chayka and Jim Hiller as our coach/GM after an allegedly exhaustive search.

it doesn't really sit right, the more I think about it.

I don't understand how a disgraced former GM out of the league for years is the best pick to lead this team out of a very critical period, and I don't get how a random like Jim Hiller is the best pick to coach the team simply because Matthews liked him while he was here. at least not from his accomplishments. what is in there that tops a list of 50 people??
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I guess the easy counter argument to that is this league just doesn't broadly believe in data so the talent pool isn't there for taking that kind of a hard turn that we're taking. Also, the people who believe in data in this league haven't been given the premium positions to date despite the fact that the last bunch of cup winning teams are varying levels of data centric.

So is Chayka the best GM to lead the team? I mean, fucking maybe if what the job market will bare is a bunch of OBC types. Is Hiller the best for the job? Kind of the same answer. The long and the short of it all is that actually being data centric (instead of just lip syncing about it) is the new operating philosophy of the organization, that's long overdue, and the league just doesn't have that many people available who are really all in on that for us to choose from.
 
Preston said:
I think we need to rewire our brains into no longer thinking that the famous names are the best ones in the NHL.
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This.

Very few pre moneyball MLB GM's survived the transition. Those that did were the ones who adapted. Similar story in the NBA with the data revolution from the early 2010's.

Right now the vast majority of the "top" GM's in the league are dinosaurs who tell jokes over drinks with their buddies about the asteroid that has already hit. The most successful front offices over the last 6-8 years have all been very data centric.
 
hockeylover said:

View: https://x.com/nylanderthews/status/2067325736122294534?s=20

Think that’s fair. You have to listen if it’s a #1D.
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I'm posting a reply from a few pages back. sooo

But there was talk a while ago about a Thomas Harley for Knies type of trade.

I know Harley is good but maybe you can make it a deal in which maybe you get a Mavrik Borque (who singlehandedly gave us Mckenna with his come back hat trick near the end of the year) Or make it bigger and get Robertson to replace Knies on the wing.

How bout dat.

I love Knies as does girlhoss who Ibought her a knies jersey around the all star game.

I would like to keep him here. But if you can get Harley plus a pick or replacement forward. I might think about it.

Is Harley a sexy name for people here.

Or am I high posting :cool:
 
Volcanologist said:
and through that lens it's encouraging that they hate it. I get the line of thinking.

but we're still sitting here, in a market that is supposedly highly desired, with John Chayka and Jim Hiller as our coach/GM after an allegedly exhaustive search.

it doesn't really sit right, the more I think about it.

I don't understand how a disgraced former GM out of the league for years is the best pick to lead this team out of a very critical period, and I don't get how a random like Jim Hiller is the best pick to coach the team simply because Matthews liked him while he was here. at least not from his accomplishments. what is in there that tops a list of 50 people??
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Who are the "big names" we should so obviously have hired though? I can't think of anybody on the coaching front, other than Cassidy who is a good coach, but is he an absolute no-brainer?

i can appreciate Hiller not being a big name, my reaction upon hearing the news was "who?" like everybody else. But upon further examination, it's actually pretty easy to see what they like here. NHL head coaching experience with a .600 winning percentage and good nerdies, assistant coach for multiple years in multiple orgs, CHL & WHL Coach of the Year (2011-12), coached an innovative and highly successful power play, data driven to the point of creating a video analysis and advanced data company, putting him firmly in line with organizational philosophy, and obviously answered questions the right way during a lengthy interview process, including the crucial point about adapting his coaching methods to personnel, as opposed to the other way around.

The fact that he coached Matthews and other Leafs before and they liked him, is a really nice bonus to be sure. But it's at the end of this list and not the reason why he got the gig.
 
If Chayka is shopping Knies I would assume (hope?) it's a much better package than what MTL offered.

Also I think the Cassidy hype is a bit much tbh. Whatever we're living in the Chundin era now, let them pick their team and we'll judge the shit out of them moving forward
 
MindzEye said:
I guess the easy counter argument to that is this league just doesn't broadly believe in data so the talent pool isn't there for taking that kind of a hard turn that we're taking. Also, the people who believe in data in this league haven't been given the premium positions to date despite the fact that the last bunch of cup winning teams are varying levels of data centric.

So is Chayka the best GM to lead the team? I mean, fucking maybe if what the job market will bare is a bunch of OBC types. Is Hiller the best for the job? Kind of the same answer. The long and the short of it all is that actually being data centric (instead of just lip syncing about it) is the new operating philosophy of the organization, that's long overdue, and the league just doesn't have that many people available who are really all in on that for us to choose from.
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there are lots and lots of great candidates for NHL GM and Coach slots. I mean who knows who the 'best" is at either job - we do know it's exceedling rare that any cup winner on one team goes to win another cup with another team, which tells us something about 'best' for these roles.

the real insanity is that most every team just recycles the same names over and over again. even if they have horrific track records.
 
Hoss said:
I'm posting a reply from a few pages back. sooo

But there was talk a while ago about a Thomas Harley for Knies type of trade.

I know Harley is good but maybe you can make it a deal in which maybe you get a Mavrik Borque (who singlehandedly gave us Mckenna with his come back hat trick near the end of the year) Or make it bigger and get Robertson to replace Knies on the wing.

How bout dat.

I love Knies as does girlhoss who Ibought her a knies jersey around the all star game.

I would like to keep him here. But if you can get Harley plus a pick or replacement forward. I might think about it.

Is Harley a sexy name for people here.

Or am I high posting :cool:
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Harley looked like an upcoming studly stud a year ago, but had a legit bad year this past year which brought everything into question again.

It's really hard to tell what he is.
 
zeke said:
there are lots and lots of great candidates for NHL GM and Coach slots. I mean who knows who the 'best" is at either job - we do know it's exceedling rare that any cup winner on one team goes to win another cup with another team, which tells us something about 'best' for these roles.

the real insanity is that most every team just recycles the same names over and over again. even if they have horrific track records.
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IMG_0387.jpeg
 
zeke said:
Harley looked like an upcoming studly stud a year ago, but had a legit bad year this past year which brought everything into question again.

It's really hard to tell what he is.
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I liked him at the four nations? He was there right? I think you could get him plus something maybe pretty good as well for knies. like Mavrik.

They have the 59th overall pick left as draft capital.
 
zeke said:
i.e. the most famous cup winning proven oldboys club coach available
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It’s kind of wild that only three guys in the entire 100+ year history of the NHL have ever head coached two different teams to a Cup and the last guy to do it was Scotty Bowman.

And then at the same time, that fact doesn’t even make a dent in the conventional wisdom that the best thing you can do when hiring a head coach is go with a high-profile “proven winner” like Berube or Cassidy.
 
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