Tiernan;1388499 wrote:They coulda easily waited until this money-grab of a so-called season is over and went after a big fish rather than settling on Euro-trash left overs.
That would have been the worst possible scenario. Howson should have been gone three days after the end of the last season - and I think Davidson, coming in late, just gave him the benefit of doubt to see if Howson's coach and players could make a go of it. I suspect that Davidson had a mark carved on the wall of where the team had to be at this point (exactly one fourth of the way into the season) in order for Howson to stay. Unfortunately, the season is already in the tank for the Jackets at this point - this set of players just isn't going to be a successful NHL team.
Like Gorocks said, Jackets may have up to three first-round picks in the upcoming draft, and the organization's performance in this area has been spectacularly awful. Howson has continued this tradition, and proved himself incapable of taking measures to overcome this by roster moves and signing. He's driven the team salary through the roof while the record went in the opposite direction - and was spectacularly ham-handed in doing so.
With the organization facing yet another massive rebuilding project, they can not afford another miserable draft the 2013 - Davidson had to find someone who was capable of drafting using something more sophisticated than an Ouija board.
