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About This Page: This is a discussion on LA Kings Talk within the LetsGoKings.com forums, at Los Angeles Kings Hockey Fan Forum. What's the background on this guy?
I became a fan in 1995 - a year before he was fired, I believe.
All I can honestly remember about the guy was
I became a fan in 1995 - a year before he was fired, I believe.
All I can honestly remember about the guy was that he was overweight, looked like he couldn't intimidate Bambi and some guy on Kings Talk calling him "Sam 'The Disaster' McMaster."
For the fans who were around long before I was, where did the Kings pluck this guy from? What were his credentials?
Granted, it's not ENTIRELY relevant to our current situation, but I've always wondered why he was hired.
I became a fan in 1995 - a year before he was fired, I believe.
All I can honestly remember about the guy was that he was overweight, looked like he couldn't intimidate Bambi and some guy on Kings Talk calling him "Sam 'The Disaster' McMaster."
For the fans who were around long before I was, where did the Kings pluck this guy from? What were his credentials?
Granted, it's not ENTIRELY relevant to our current situation, but I've always wondered why he was hired.
Three wasted years of the franchise because of this guy...
I actually was a fan of his tenure here which I know is sacrilous to say but think of the environment he had to work with and I think you can look back and say he did the best with what he had handed to him. He took over just as Mcnall's shenanigans were coming to light and the Kings financial situation was dire to say the least. The Kings equimpent suppliers were stopping delivery of gear due to the lack of funds so how was this guy supposed to operate on anything other than a shoestring budget? I know he wanted to sign Pat Verbeek who was still a valuable Sean Avery type to a free agent deal but there was no way quality free agents could be brought in when you can't even afford sticks and gloves. As great as Mcnall was for bringing in Gretzky and ushering in a winning 6-7 years of hockey, he's also responsible for leaving this team in ruins for the better part of a decade due to his scheming and scamming but that is another thread!!
He gets alot of you know what for the Fuhr deal but I put that on Melrose/Gretzky. You know Melrose wanted Fuhr to mess with Hrudey's mind and Gretzky for the obvious reasons of their close friendship. Gretzky wasn't exactly buddies wtih Robitaille and was with Tocchet so I put that trade more on Gretzky than Mcmaster. Melrose was trying to stack the team with goons like Crowder,Tocchet,Crowe and even Ed Kastelic who never played but was brought in. Mcmaster made the Lappy/Nordstrom deal which might be one of the best deals in Kings history. Were there mistakes made by him, yes but I really think if you look at the situation and given the restraints of the finances he was under as well as Melrose/Gretzky trying to run the ship, I think in the end he wasn't nearly as bad as people make him out to be.
I actually was a fan of his tenure here which I know is sacrilous to say but think of the environment he had to work with and I think you can look back and say he did the best with what he had handed to him. He took over just as Mcnall's shenanigans were coming to light and the Kings financial situation was dire to say the least. The Kings equimpent suppliers were stopping delivery of gear due to the lack of funds so how was this guy supposed to operate on anything other than a shoestring budget? I know he wanted to sign Pat Verbeek who was still a valuable Sean Avery type to a free agent deal but there was no way quality free agents could be brought in when you can't even afford sticks and gloves. As great as Mcnall was for bringing in Gretzky and ushering in a winning 6-7 years of hockey, he's also responsible for leaving this team in ruins for the better part of a decade due to his scheming and scamming but that is another thread!!
He gets alot of you know what for the Fuhr deal but I put that on Melrose/Gretzky. You know Melrose wanted Fuhr to mess with Hrudey's mind and Gretzky for the obvious reasons of their close friendship. Gretzky wasn't exactly buddies wtih Robitaille and was with Tocchet so I put that trade more on Gretzky than Mcmaster. Melrose was trying to stack the team with goons like Crowder,Tocchet,Crowe and even Ed Kastelic who never played but was brought in. Mcmaster made the Lappy/Nordstrom deal which might be one of the best deals in Kings history. Were there mistakes made by him, yes but I really think if you look at the situation and given the restraints of the finances he was under as well as Melrose/Gretzky trying to run the ship, I think in the end he wasn't nearly as bad as people make him out to be.
I think giving Mcnall the responsibility of the last decade is actually the easy way out. He screwed the team up for the next few years, but really that was a chance for a clean slate. The next 10 years after that failed because of many different things, but I would hate to say he gets all the credit for them.
14-Feb-95 Buffalo Sabres traded Philippe Boucher, Denis Tsygurov and Grant Fuhr to the Los Angeles Kings for Alexei Zhitnik, Robb Stauber, Charlie Huddy and 5th round selection (Marian Menhart) in 1995.
P. Boucher
09-Jun-91 Drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1st round (13th overall) in 1991.
No doubt, Fuhr was an absolute disaster here, and losing Zhitnik was hard, but Boucher turned out very well, so, in the end, Zhitnik for Boucher was a wash.
Too bad his best times have been with Dallas, but that wasn't McMaster's fault.
Last edited by Bogey Man; January 11th, 2008 at 09:27 PM.
Who was the GM who would trade away our 1st rounders year after year? I became a fan during that time. Forgot his name though. He traded a 1st rounder which eventually turned out to be Raymond Bourqe.
Sam "The Disaster" McMaster? 
darby
