Tank it 4 Taylor Hall (or Kirill Kabanov)
| 04 Jun 2009
update An absolutely scathing critique of Pierre Lacroix that you should read can be found here.
Who are Taylor Hall and Kirill Kabanov you ask? Well they are projected to probably be the top pick of the 2010 entry draft. That’s right, the 2010 entry draft. If you’re wondering why I’m looking ahead to the 2010 entry draft, it’s because I’m a big fan of Albert Einstein. The one quote that pops into my head today is a very famous and overused quote:
<blockquote>The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results</blockquote>Well Pierre Lacroix has clearly gone insane. Today it was revealed that he is promoting an unproven, and some could make the argument an unsuccessful, coach from within the orginization to run the team without even bothering to do a token search for someone who might actually have soem hockey knowledge and happens to be working within a different orginization. Somehow promoting this greenhorn, who has very little success as a coach, is going to turn the Avs into contenders.
Meanwhile, it took him just 1 day to undermine and emasculate his new GM Bob Sherman Dwight Schrute, by making it completely clear that Lacroix, not Sherman, is calling the shots. Sure Sherman might get a say in matters, but we know who ultimately has the final say. Sherman didn’t even get to hire his own coach (as I still suspect Giguere never got to hire his own coach either last season). How deep does Lacroix meddling go? Did Lacroix direct Giguere to sign Tucker? Did Lacroix direct Giguere not to pick up Bryzgolav off of waivers? Was Brett Clark’s contract directed by Lacroix? By undermining Sherman like this those questions immediately become valid. The onyl thing clear about the pierre Lacroix regime is that Lacroix is the Supreme Director in charge of doing whatever the hell he damn well pleases.
But Sherman got it lucky, he got a full 24 hours before being publically undermined. New coach Joe Sacco is being pubically castrated before he’s even officially announced as coach. Fans (rightfully) haven’t forgiven the Avs for not even interviewing other coaching candidates last season. I guess the Avs interviewed Patrick Roy this season, but I don’t think anyone really counts it. Joe Sacco barely has a chance to gain any traction with the fans. Fans are going to be against him from the very beginning and continue to hate him until the day Lacroix scapegoats him for the teams problems. He’s never going to be accepted as a good coach, even if he is one. The fans are going to loathe him, and that’s all because Pierre Lacroix doesn’t feel the need to be bothered to look at other candidates.
But this would assume that Pierre Lacroix even gives one flying fuck what the fans think. It’s very clear he couldn’t care about what the fans think, and frankly it appears that winning isn’t even his highest priority anymore. No, the constant incestual and cronyism that is the Lacroix management model has made it clear that more importnant than the fans, more than winning, and more than hockey, Pierre Lacroix cares about one thing: making sure everyone knows that Pierre’s in charge.