Geniuses Like… Steve Simmons?
November 28th, 2008 by SteveAh what would life be like without the intrepid, investigative reporting that is the work of Steve “Mats Needs a New Hip” Simmons. Recently Mr. Simmons had this to say in response to comments by fellow analyst Al Strachan (whom I personally am not a huge fan of either, but I can’t let this slide):
“Geniuses such as Al Strachan claim Burke inherited his Stanley Cup champion in Anaheim. For the record, Burke replaced all six defenceman, nine of his 12 forwards, including his top five scorers, hired Randy Carlyle as coach in the two post-lockout seasons leading to the Cup. If that’s inheriting, the Leafs should hope he inherits here…”
- Steve Simmons
Problem - while he “replaced” all six defencemen, and nine of his twelve forwards “including his top five scorers”, he didn’t exactly do so all by his lonesome. See this is the problem when you fudge numbers regularly; you begin to completely lose touch with when you’re fudging and when you’re outright contradicting yourself.
Here are the Anaheim Forwards from the first year post lockout:
Teemu Selanne, Andy McDonald, Joffrey Lupul, Chris Kunitz, Rob Niedermayer, Ryan Getzlaf, Jonathan Hedstrom, Correy Perry, Todd Marchant, Todd Fedoruk, Samuel Pahlsson, and Jeff Friesen.
Of that group, here are the ones that Burke was ACTUALLY responsible for obtaining:
Selanne, Kunitz, Todd Marchant, and Todd Fedoruk.
Neidermayer, McDonald, Lupul, Getzlaf, Perry, Hedstrom, Pahlsson, and Friesen were all hold overs, draftees, or signees of the previous regime. If you count calling Getzlaf and Perry up to the NHL as “replacing” other forwards, or if you think trading Lupul for Marchant and Pronger was a huge upgrade in the forward ranks, then I suppose you’d agree with Simmons. He also eventually brought in George Parros, Brad May, and Travis Moen. I’m pretty sure none of the three have featured in the Ducks top 5 scorers.
He also has since ditched McDonald for an aging Doug Weight in a salary dump maneuver that LOST him one of his top 5 scorers, and let Friesen and Fedoruk leave for other clubs - not that they were integral to the team’s success or anything.
Also, since when is it a huge accomplishment to be one of the top scorers on one of the lowest scoring teams in the NHL?
So let’s see, he signed Kunitz away from Atlanta, and he brought back Selanne and a added a bunch of tough guys? So we should hope he signs a secondary scorer (you mean like Lee Stempniak) - brings back an aging European veteran with scoring skill (you mean like Mats Sundin?) - and then brings in a bunch of heavyweights? Unfortunately to me that does not sound like progress as far as the forwards are concerned.
He did drastically alter the Ducks blue line. He signed Niedermayer, and traded for Pronger and Beauchemin. At the time of the Beauchemin deal, he was a throw in on a salary dump to get rid of Fedorov. Nobody in the NHL would have predicted Beauchemin would be as useful as he has been.
He also signed Mathieu Schneider when Niedermayer half retired, then he was forced so far up against the cap that he had to deal Schneider for Ken Klee… whom he then placed on waivers. Talk about astute signings.
So let’s review. Apparently he didn’t “inherit” the talent of Perry, Getzlaf, and McDonald. He didn’t “inherit” Joffrey Lupul or Ladislav Smid - the keystones of the Chris Pronger deal. He didn’t “inherit” that stellar goaltending duo of J.S. Giguere and Ilya Bryzgalov - who he lost on waivers for absolutely nothing - again because of salary cap problems.
Is anyone noticing a trend here with the salary cap issues?
I honestly hope somebody “inherits” Steve Simmons’ plush gig one of these days.
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6 Responses to “Geniuses Like… Steve Simmons?”
By Gerald Norton
on Nov 28, 2008
OMG….we agree on something? LOL!
There’s no doubt Burke is a competent GM, but the hype around this guy has taken on a life of its own. Gee, so unlike the Toronto media (we all know THEY wanted Burke, and did all they could to build this guy up, to butter their own bread).
By eyebleaf
on Nov 28, 2008
Oh Stevey Simmons. Always entertaining, though, right?
By Doug
on Nov 28, 2008
I’ve found it astounding over the years that Steve Simmons has been able to stay employed. Does his mother own the Toronto Sun or something?
By HandsAlot
on Nov 29, 2008
Although Simmons was incredibly off, it isn’t uncommon for exaggeration from the Toronto media, sadly.
With that said, I do not think Anaheim would have won that cup without Brian Burke.
By Steve
on Nov 29, 2008
Probably because they wouldn’t have signed Niedermayer AND traded for Pronger.
Burke wasn’t attached to Lupul and Smid the way the prior regime would have been. That’s two first round picks for Pronger… it’s sort of like how the Leafs didn’t want to trade Steen and Kaberle.
Plus bringing in the toughness wasn’t the worst idea either.
I’m not saying he didn’t do a good job of getting them to the cup… but I hate the continuing assertions that he “built” a Stanley Cup winner. He basically took someone’s sports car, bought a new set of tires and rims, and made it into the nicest one on the block. He didn’t build the engine or the body though.
By Tom
on Nov 30, 2008
The Toronto Sun is a slapdick publication. What else should we expect.