I think it's more along the lines of Stan being the type of GM that is good at keeping the band together and navigating the cap to keep a good team good. You can say he had little influence over the 2010 squad other than ditching Barker, but he did make enough right moves between then and 2015 to get us 3 cups. If that was easy then we might have seen more from teams like Boston in that interim and it not having been the Chicago/LA show between 2010 and 2015.
The problem though is that Stan doesn't appear to be a builder at all--not like Smith/Tallon were at least--and that's where you're spot on. He doesn't seem to have the ability to evaluate talent/projection. He may be good at getting depth guys when the top-end talent is there and performing, but the 'hawks haven't been there since the last cup run. He basically botched up the transition by either assuming the core was as-good as it was during the runs and they could handle the load, or assuming his acquisitions could take over driver roles and they never could.
The core is aging out--if not to a man then as a whole. Kane can't keep doing everything. Keith & Toews are still at least somewhat producing but not at their peak and for how much longer? We all know about Seabs. To me that's a critical mass of elite talent that is simply not elite anymore--except of course Kane. Kane himself can't be the driver--we needed quite a few players performing that high over the course of our cup runs.
So what was Stan's answer? Debrincat is the only real "hit" but he's in a slump now shooting only 6%. Where's everyone else? Gus? Guy is effectively Leddy without the D prowess. As you mentioned in another thread Dach may be years away.
I don't think Stan is a horrible GM--not as bad as Pullford was anyway. But he's definitely not good at the task at hand--and that's building a team from little or nothing.
I think any GM could "fill" around a hall-of-fame core. The hard part, as you alluded to, is creating the core -- and Bowman has shown that he knows nothing as to how to build a core from the ground up. Yeah, he was able to get filler pieces like Handzus, Richards, Madden, etc. -- but those type of moves aren't hard in my view.
I agree that Kane can't keep doing everything. This team needs a legitimate top-six, and they simply don't have one. Nylander and even Dach in the top-six isn't the answer. Not only that, but you have Kubalik and Kampf also in your lineup -- these are all too green of players. Instead of getting a legitimate top-six -- or even a legit top four (de Haan and Maatta are not legit in my view) -- he blows his biggest signing on Lehner (a guy who will only play of the regular season games, at best).
I'm not sure the Debrincat signing will age well. I know we've discussed it before, but I feel like, without Kane, Debrincat is in trouble. I don't think he can carry an offense and even a line by himself. It would be great if he could be thrown on the third line to carry it, but again, I don't think he can. The league is wise to him now. Yes, the 40 goal season was great, but teams are wise to him now. He is easily neutralized more often than not, especially recently. If he doesn't possess the elusiveness of Kane -- which is incredibly difficult to replicate for any player, if not impossible -- he'll struggle. The nice thing with him though, is that it's only a 3 year contract and it isn't in the 8-10 mill range.
