You really are just shitting these posts straight out of your chute, and I remain impressed that you can type with your butt cheeks. You know perfectly well that them thinking they would be competitive is the entire f***ing problem and the entire f***ing point. Don't you think you would have more fun if you stopped playing dumb and got on board with the crusade? There isn't even a crumb of jack shit that you can cling to and reasonably make these arguments. So just stop.
What have I been saying for two years?
This goes back to the Carter/Richard trades, they've been deluding themselves for a decade.
2017-18 team had 98 points, had some young players Provorov (21), TK (20), Patrick (19), Ghost (24), Couts (25), Laughton (23), Sanheim (21), but the key players were G (30), Voracek (28), Simmonds (29), Filppula (33), Raffl (29), Amac (31).
So of course they sign JVR (29) to a 5 year deal, as if they were one player away.
Then they implode in 2018-19 due to Spinal Tap goalies.
So the choice was either reset or try to win in a short window before G and Voracek aged out.
With Patrick exposed as damaged goods, Ghost hobbled with injuries, going for it was not necessarily the wrong move, the execution was b/c they didn't do it as a "crash and burn" exercise, knowing they'd have to rebuild after a couple years competing.
If you go "crash and burn," you don't give AV a 5yr deal, you don't sign Hayes to a 7 year deal, you do make the Niskanen and Braun deals, add a veteran center on a short-term deal, etc. Those moves, which I'm sure even if initiated by Fletcher, were signed off by the "brain trust," demonstrate that the FO overestimated the talent on this team, especially after they knew Patrick was damaged goods.
Otherwise, they should have traded Voracek and G while they had maximum value, taken a step back, been honest with the fan base, and spend 2-3 years building up the young talent base.
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