sungod661 Posted February 13, 2013 Report Share Posted February 13, 2013 As you all know Scott Howson GM of the Bluejackets was fired today. Although i was not surprised by this move i do think he did a decent job. Before Wooten and others rip my head off let me explain. Scott Howson led the Jackets to there only playoff appearance with ownership who did little if anything to help. Taking a look at his trades they dont seem all that bad( to me anyway) Trading for Carter and giving up Voracek and Couturier may have been a mistake but he more then made up for it getting Jack Johnson and a first from L.a which looks like a solid pick right about now. So no one can say he got fleeced on Carter! The Nash deal: many including myself think he did not get enough for Nash but as of right now the 3 guys he got have more points and have contributed more then Nash has. Obviously Howson allowed his relationship to sour with Nash which made him almost untradeable but all things considered he didn't do bad. I am sure in the long run Nash does better then all 3 combined but Howson did get 3 pieces (and a 1st rounder) that are contributing and many GM'S have done worse when a franchise player decides he wants out publicly...see Patrick Roy , Chris Pronger or an array of others. The major knock on Howson was his drafting: taking Brule, leclair, brassard and filatov to name a few BUT hold on lets look closer at some of the guys they have drafted lately Murray, Johannsen, attkinson , Jenner and if they add say a top 3 guy to that this year they may have some of the best young talent in the Nhl. The case of Ryan Johanssen Howson was crucified in the media for the handling of his top prospect rushing him to the NHl these are the same people who begged him to keep him on the big team. There was media and fan pressure to keep the kid in the nhl you cant blame Howson for trying to make a very unhappy fan base happy! In the end the firing is justified because this is a results business but Scott Howson was far from the worst GM ever in hockey. Many say he was worse then Mike Milburey. I think Scott Howson was an average gm who got 5 years which is fair these day to build a team and failed. However he leaves the jackets sitting pretty 3 first round picks some nice prospects and almost no bad contracts. Future looks bright and someone else will reap the rewards of Scott Howson's work....Hockey can be cruel Your thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guam64 Posted February 13, 2013 Report Share Posted February 13, 2013 It's not that curious. He got fired for putting together s***ty teams, getting traderaped (Carter), and giving out hilariously bad contracts (Mason, Wisniewski). Brule, Leclaire, and Brassard weren't drafted by Howson. Doug MacLean lit those dumpster fires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Red Wings Posted February 13, 2013 Report Share Posted February 13, 2013 I feel like it's a weird time to can him. The Nash trade looks to have gone in their favor thus far and the team is putting up more fight than they did last year. They just came off their most impressive win of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sungod661 Posted February 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2013 It's not that curious. He got fired for putting together s***ty teams, getting traderaped (Carter), and giving out hilariously bad contracts (Mason, Wisniewski). Brule, Leclaire, and Brassard weren't drafted by Howson. Doug MacLean lit those dumpster fires. Agreed but you have to admit he has left a pretty nice base to work with for the new gm.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guam64 Posted February 13, 2013 Report Share Posted February 13, 2013 Agreed but you have to admit he has left a pretty nice base to work with for the new gm.... Yeah but that ain't gonna sell seats or get couches burnt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluejacket Posted February 13, 2013 Report Share Posted February 13, 2013 Howson was just meh for the Jackets. He did not suck as much as some like to think, but he was not great ether. His trades for the most part were good and drafting was OK (and this will take a few years to really score), but the firing of Hitch and the hiring of the moron that is Scott Arniel were killers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConcreteCharlie Posted February 13, 2013 Report Share Posted February 13, 2013 I have interviewed Howson for stories many times and he's one of the few execs I'll have a stop and chat with at league events and stuff. Very nice guy, very personable, very upbeat and, of course, very knowledgeable about the sport. That said, he was an absolute lame duck and should have been fired before the season started, in my humble opinion. Can we really say the ownership did not play ball? They were a struggling team with a weak history, tepid support, so-so financial standing and all of one playoff appearance to their credit. Not only did they lay out the big cash for Nash, they foresaw trouble keeping him and attracting other talent so they authorized a spending spree. Last year they spent almost up to the cap, something other teams in similar positions would not have even considered doing. That meant Wisniewski (desperately needed a PP QB) and Carter, for openers. The problem there is that Wisniewski was a classic open-market overpayment for a lower-profile franchise and that Carter never, ever wanted to be there. I talked to Carter the day he was traded, he sounded like he got kicked in the balls. With the least bit of research, they could have seen that it was a bad move. They also gave up a lot there. I don't understand how teams make those huge moves with obvious flaws. I can think of a similar one in the NBA, the Sixers signing Elton Brand without a stern medical evaluation. I understand in both cases there was competition. The Jackets and Flyers started talking around the midpoint of the season two years ago about Carter, but there were other teams with their hats in the ring so maybe there was pressure there or some thought that Carter would be disappointed anywhere and could come around. With Brand, Golden State and the Clippers were in the mix and things happened quickly. We are still talking tens of millions in salary and much more in wasted potential revenue, so do better, please. The drafting was terrible, let's not sugarcoat it. Are we going to give them loads of credit for Murray, the consensus No. 2 pick, who has barely played? Good kid, solid talent, but I wouldn't put that as the first line on my resume. Same thing with Johansen, that was a fish in a barrell draft slot really. You had a whole bunch of talented kids, especially forwards there. In the meantime, they blew a bunch of top ten picks and didn't glean a whole lot from the later rounds. No one sucks as much as Milbury but rather than entering into an Olympics of ineptitude, I will just say that Howson, while he is a guy I root for, deserved to be canned. They are going to bring in a much better talent evaluation guy now in Kekalainen, who was the obvious choice as Howson's successor between that fact and his ties to JD in St Louis. This was the right move for the franchise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guam64 Posted February 14, 2013 Report Share Posted February 14, 2013 I talked to Carter the day he was traded, he sounded like he got kicked in the balls. That's because Pronger's wife wasn't in Columbus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sungod661 Posted February 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2013 That's because Pronger's wife wasn't in Columbus. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConcreteCharlie Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 Chris Pronger: King of the love triangle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akteon Posted February 16, 2013 Report Share Posted February 16, 2013 While I always felt the Nash deal was more fair to both sides than the fleecing that some claimed, I think it will go down as a good and necessary trade for both teams.I mean it's not like trading Fedor Tyutin for Nikolai Zherdev. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluejacket Posted February 20, 2013 Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 While I always felt the Nash deal was more fair to both sides than the fleecing that some claimed, I think it will go down as a good and necessary trade for both teams. I mean it's not like trading Fedor Tyutin for Nikolai Zherdev. The Jackets did have to take Backman (worst post lockout CBJ player) in that deal. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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