MacT should follow Chevy’s lead

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/12/2014 (3942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Frankly, not many sportswriters or fans would make good GMs. It’s our job to overreact and push for unrealistic change. It’s the job of a GM to know when to ignore us, which is almost always, and when to act on the rare occasion there is actually some wisdom in our ranting.

In this area, Craig MacTavish could do worse than to corner Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and ask for a lesson in patience.

Cheveldayoff has been urged from almost the minute he took his post to make radical changes to his roster. Trade this guy, trade that guy. Get into the playoffs now, no matter what you have to do and what damage will be done to the organization’s future.

Some of that has been written in this space, and there are still players on the Jets roster that, from this perspective, should be moved. C’mon, Chevy. Get with it.

More and more, the arguments against Cheveldayoff and his work are growing mute as his vision unfolds and is steered by coach Paul Maurice.

The Jets remain one of the NHL’s youngest teams, continue to improve and will have seven prospects participating at the world junior tournament this Christmas.

Cheveldayoff believed the Jets needed to be rebuilt from the ground up.

To bolster the organizational depth and create a roster with depth. To draft players and let them develop at their own pace rather than just pushing them into the NHL, as had been the process when the franchise was located in Atlanta.

Mark Scheifele was his first pick, and when he popped a few goals early in his first pre-season game, there was lots of talk about an immediate ascension to the NHL. Cheveldayoff returned him to junior twice. Eventually, he arrived ready to play.

Jacob Trouba returned to college, Adam Lowry went to the AHL. Connor Hellebuyck has a .929 save percentage through his first 16 games in the AHL. Nik Ehlers is scoring at a pace of more than two points per game in the QMJHL and Josh Morrisey and Nic Petan are stars in the WHL.

Rushing players to the NHL is a thing of the past for this organization, and the Jets now have a present and a future. Cheveldayoff refused to push the panic button, and instead did his job just as he said he would.

Certainly there have been missteps, but no executive in any business bats 1.000. Cheveldayoff has focused on things he can control and stayed true to his plan.

The results are just beginning to show, and the Jets remain a bubble team at best. But one has to wonder what this team will look like in three years if he’s left to his own design.

MacTavish sits at a similar crossroads today as Cheveldayoff did when he inherited his Jets. Fans have suffered long enough and want improvement now. Except it doesn’t work that way.

Just because you’ve been walking through hell for some time doesn’t mean you’re ready to come out the other side. Not if you haven’t fixed your problems, and MacTavish, despite the ridiculous talk of “bold moves,” hasn’t had enough time to correct what ails the Oilers.

The list of Oilers with strong market value gets pretty short after Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Certainly, teams will be willing to deal picks and prospects in exchange for some of MacTavish’s roster players, but that doesn’t help him today. Actually, it’s pretty obvious there’s nothing he can do about today but hold his assets and try to improve his organization’s draft record.

MacTavish needs to embrace his reality. Put Leon Draisaitl on the first bus back to Prince Albert and allow him to develop.

The only thing he’s learning right now is how to lose.

MacTavish seems to believe in Dallas Eakins. Eakins got the job with the Oilers because MacTavish — and a lot of other people in the hockey world — thought he was ready to be a head coach. He’s a student of the game and can motivate men. Maybe this job will be a learning stop for him. He’ll be a good coach in the NHL whether it’s with Edmonton or the next club he gets.

Eakins can stay or go. The Oilers will still be a bad team. Their ailments run far deeper than one man.

MacTavish needs to come face-to-face with the truth, and that is the Oilers can’t get better in a hurry. They are years from being a contender, and until that’s accepted from top to bottom in the organization, they can’t move forward.

Deluding himself and trying to swing a couple of cure-all deals will only set his team back.

Being bad and drafting high doesn’t guarantee a team will one day form into a contender. But trying to rush success in today’s NHL guarantees failure.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @garylawless