“THEY HAVE OPTIONS”
Chicago’s Rick Dudley on the Islanders’ moment
Good story today by Ryan Pyette in the London (Ontario) Free Press, with fun quotes by Chicago assistant GM Rick Dudley on decisions facing the Islanders with the first overall pick. Dudley discusses the Blackhawks’ turns in the draft spotlight and says if he was Garth Snow, “I would send out mixed signals. Let everyone wonder about it.” Thank you to reader John S. from London for the heads-up.
18 Responses to “THEY HAVE OPTIONS”
Chicago’s Rick Dudley on the Islanders’ moment
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1) “Mixed signals” Sounds exactly what GS has been doing since “winning” the lottery last month.
2) Agree with CB that it perhaps made better sense on the marketing side to announce welll in advance of the draft of the team’s intentions(to see tix, etc) but on the other hand also see the advantage of waiting till the last possible moment and see whats ‘out there’. In any event the Isles will be getting an awfully good player(s) that day! -
Irish Isle says:
Im hoping though they take the Blackhawks strategy and have the #1 Player identified ahead of time (TAVARES); and not taking the Panthers strategy of trading the #1 pick for #3 and then picking (Duchene).
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Snow has handled it just fine thus far. And even though he may make some moves that we disagree with (like not taking Filatov last year) there at least seems to be some method to his madness unlike some other ‘mad’ GM we all love to hate. I’ll say it again though, unless he is blown away by a too-good-to-be-true offer then I sure hope he picks Tavares number one. If he DID pick Hedman I’d be disappointed but somewhat understanding, unless of course he sits idly by while we have no offense once again.
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Hishutzi Skorz says:
A few years ago, a guy in a trenchcoat was sitting at the end of our row. One of my 303 buddies recognized him and invited him to sit between us…it was Dudley. Rick sat with us for the 2nd period and the three of us had a good hockey conversation. The main point that I recall was his evaluation of Kasparaitis (it was his 1st year as a Rag). He said he wouldn’t want him on his team because despite his strong points (hitting), he was always taking himself out of position.
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Darren says:
I agree! No reason to let the rest of the league know what you’re doing. I think Snow has handled this perfect. Don’t show the others what hand you have.
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bob l says:
a little mystery and intrigue is always more fun (than doing what dunleavey did last night)
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Staten Islander says:
I love it, plus it’d just drive the toronto media NUTS……lol
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I’m just glad we aren’t doing a Seen Tavares? thing like TB did with Stamkos last year. That was corny and also put undue pressure on the kid to perform right away. And from a GM viewpoint, they took away all leverage they had with having the number one pick. You never want to show your hand or fold early.
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Mark P says:
Only CB wanted to declare Tavares early….Garth has handled this well thus far….Think of all the traffic on this site….If he declared Taveras we would be spending way too much time disussing our 5th round pick options that none of us no anything about!
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Jethro09 says:
I don’t care how many signals Snow sends out and what those signals are, so long as he does the right thing on Draft Day and keeps the #1 overall pick to draft John Tavares.
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-Big Van Vader says:
#11-Amen, brother.
Remember Garth. No Tavares=New Jumbotron
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geduffer says:
For all the people screaming “Tavares” or “Hedman”, let Garth do his job. He’s doing it pretty well. I’m confident that he’ll make the best pick for the future of the team. I also agree with Chris. I think he’ll select Tavares as well, but I won’t lose my lunch (or be completely surprised) if he doesn’t.
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19404ever says:
This has been a soap opera from the get go, BUT with all reasons stated, Snowang needs to keep his cool and play poker during this process. AND, this organization better make the right move, as the future hangs on this selection and the obvious Lighthouse, Queens, Brooklyn, ANYTHING but having OUR Isles move to a different market. C’om, let’s get our sh*t together, christ it was only 7 years ago since we had a playoff caliber team, with the Coliseum alive and well! Remember what it sounded like against the Leafs??!!! STEVE WEBB!!!!!!!
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“Only CB wanted to declare Tavares early”
Actually there are many fans that want to hear that, and know we are getting the best player available, rather then sweat out these next few weeks, thinking Garth will do something asinine just to showhow smart he thinks he is.
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blitz says:
The big part of that FL/ATL/CLB deal was the option to swap 1st round picks in the following seasons’ draft. The remainder of the various picks swapped (2nds and 3rds) have had little to no impact to date.
At the end of the day, all that work didn’t really benefit either team. Mix Nash, Lehtonen, JBo on any of those 3 teams and you probably have the same results to date, if not worse:
2/3 made the playoffs, but exited rather quickly in the first round. The other has yet to make the playoffs and is most likely going to lose the player via UFA the 3-way deal was all for to begin with…
Dudley is no longer a GM, same for Mclean. Somehow, Waddell, who is about as bad as Milbury remains the GM in ATL.
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Steve says:
Great article. We want Tavares!
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NoSo Isles Fan says:
Amen, For the love of God please pick Tavares.
Seems like Dudley would do what Snow is doing, keep everyone guessing. Only a little over 5 weeks to go.