The pieces were in place many times since 1961. They didn't win in 49 years before he got here and they've won 3 times since he got here. Those are facts and they are not arguable.
Oh yea there were pieces during some of those years but not Toews,Kane, Sharp, Keith, Seabrook etc quality pieces. He walked into a goldmine, the pieces were here, he had nothing to do with those, any competent exec could do what he did.
It was his insistence that pushed Tallon into signing Christobal Huet, trying to create a splash, similar to him giving Soriano the fat contract that haunted the Cubs for years. He wanted to change the image of the hawks into a team that would pay free agents to come here, which prior to that Dollar Bill's philosophy created a team no free agent wanted anything to do with.
The Huet signing was a signing that haunted the Hawks for a couple years. At least after the Huet signing he excluded himself from making any player personnel decisions.
He is a master on the business side of things though.