The clock is ticking on the lifespan of a general manager. Throw in the clichés of “what have you done for me lately?” and pressure can be relentless.
Obviously only one team can win the Stanley Cup, so that means that 29 others failed to achieve their goals. It doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone else is terrible and needs to start over, but there are certainly different degrees of failure that put the front office executives directly into the pressure cooker.
Certain teams practically acknowledge that they don’t have a chance form the start, but the teams that are considered “favorites” have a finite number of opportunities before the metaphorical guillotine falls. The Pittsburgh Penguins were a perfect example of this. Great team. Great players.
Can’t fire the players, so everyone else, get out of the car.
There are plenty of examples of teams that are in similar situations. Maybe not as dramatic as what went down in the Steel City, but here are five teams that will be thinking Stanley Cup or bust.
San Jose Sharks-The Sharks talked about how they needed to rebuild, but are still stuck with their high-dollar veterans and no viable rebuilding blueprint. It appears that with some moderate to zero roster adjustments that San Jose is happy with the status quo. If they do nothing this summer and perform their annual playoff disappearing act, look for Pittsburgh 2.0 in the Bay Area.
Detroit Red Wings-Anyone else what happened to the once-mythical land called “Hockeytown”? The revolving door of awesomeness that seemed to produce Stanley Cup contenders with regularity has come to a screeching halt. Detroit still has grown a crop of elite young talent, but their roster management and catastrophic free agency failures could have Ken Holland on the hot seat if Detroit doesn’t improve.
St. Louis Blues-My theory on Ken Hitchcock was that he had a four-year shelf life before his teams tended to quit on him. There is no doubt that Hitch is a great coach, but given the talent assembled in St. Louis, he has to feel like his opportunity to bring a Stanley Cup to the Blues barren trophy case could be coming to a close. The Blues have the misfortune of a brutal division so we’ll have to see how patient ownership is if they can’t get to the Promised Land this year.
Toronto Maple Leafs-Brendan Shanahan was brought in to help right the ship in Toronto, but the problem might be bigger than the former lord of NHL discipline bargained for. The Leafs almost have a resignation to the collapse that seems to occur every April. They have the talent to be a viable Stanley Cup contender but you’d almost have to believe that their biggest obstacle is themselves if they want to reach their full potential. Let’s hope that Shanny is a hell of a motivational speaker.
New York Islanders-The Islanders have a different set of expectations that may or may not include the Stanley Cup, but they are certainly a playoff team. They spent their money wisely this summer and fortified their weak areas. While they could use more depth on the blue line, their biggest area of concern was fixed with Jaroslav Halak and Chad Johnson. Missing the playoffs last season was reasonable considering that their best player went down during the Olympics. However, with John Tavares back this fall and a stronger roster, coach Jack Capuano and GM Garth Snow will need to get to the second season, or else!