Dubas deserves a lot of the blame as well. He paid a 3rd pair defensemen $4.5M for 6 years. I won’t be shocked if Graves is bought out after his 2nd or 3rd year. And Vegas let go Reilly Smith for a reason. He was going further and further down their depth chart, and they somehow found a team willing to eat his $5×2 contract. Dubas got fleeced there, let alone paying a 3rd round pick. He also took on 4 years of Erik Karlsson at $10M in his mid to late 30s, and gave up a 1st round pick to do so. He struck out 3 times. It was a bad off season.
Yes, Mike Sullivan message is not resonating with the team, as it did in the years past. But the management is doing him no favours. The team has got older and slower, not much he can do, except hope his system covers up for their mistakes. Sullivan won a Cup with this approach, but that team had a lot of speed. It is on management to give him those players. Not dinosaurs.
Also as long as Crosby is the captain, Sullivan is not going to be fired. They have a great relationship. Crosby adores him, and would veto any move to let him go.
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Dubas deserves a lot of the blame as well. He paid a 3rd pair defensemen $4.5M for 6 years. I won’t be shocked if Graves is bought out after his 2nd or 3rd year. And Vegas let go Reilly Smith for a reason. He was going further and further down their depth chart, and they somehow found a team willing to eat his $5×2 contract. Dubas got fleeced there, let alone paying a 3rd round pick. He also took on 4 years of Erik Karlsson at $10M in his mid to late 30s, and gave up a 1st round pick to do so. He struck out 3 times. It was a bad off season.
Yes, Mike Sullivan message is not resonating with the team, as it did in the years past. But the management is doing him no favours. The team has got older and slower, not much he can do, except hope his system covers up for their mistakes. Sullivan won a Cup with this approach, but that team had a lot of speed. It is on management to give him those players. Not dinosaurs.
Also as long as Crosby is the captain, Sullivan is not going to be fired. They have a great relationship. Crosby adores him, and would veto any move to let him go.