New York spent the previous seasons sitting back accumulating cap space before they signed Panarin. They got Fox & got an extreme outcome on him ending up one of the best defensemen & almost immediately at that.
Beyond that they slogged their way to the conference finals off the back of Shesterkin having the best regular & post season by goalie in the analytic era. That’s a team probably prime for regression back to the middle next year which usually happens to these outlier/Cinderella types.
I want to build a legitimate contender with some sustaining power. I’m tired of being in no man’s land waiting on a miracle to happen.
I agree. Which is why I couldn't give a shit about Ghost and Voracek or even G, if you want to build a legitimate contender, they were out the door in any case. If Ellis either comes back or goes on LTIR, then things are fine, b/c Patrick and Myers were "fails."
I don't mind using 2nd and 3rd rd picks to get RFAs in their prime, in that sense, if there wasn't all that baggage, TDA would be a good move. I do mind using 1st rd picks unless the player is a top player 25 or younger, which is why I didn't like the Risto deal. The extension was $1M and 1 year too much, 4x4 is easily tradeable.
Giving up on Lindblom is stupid, resigning him to a 2x2 and gaining $1M to provide head room to resign RFA deals would make sense. Giving up assets to move JVR to try and sign JG would be stupid, if he was 26, yes, but he's 29, this team isn't one player away and I expect by 32 he'll be in decline. G peaked at 30-31, while JG might be a little better, I expect him to be second line quality in 4 years making $10M a year. Whereas paying Couts $7.5M is manageable b/c he'll be a solid veteran anchor as a two way center.
