Kind of understand these lottery tickects, where you buy very much development time.
Guys drafted from Canadian CHL ? You have to sign them on ELC in 2 years, or you lose the player rights. And all are still developing and you should force them to GR etc. Still struggling against men. If they pan out from taht route, they are still too young to NHL, but the salary raises come in to play. That's a bad formula. You have to hit big if getting CHL defenceman, or avoid them totally, imo.
But long-shot lower-round players going to college, there's those longer lasting rights. And if the player will pan out, you get a cheap late bloomer, which takes his cheap ELC starting not until he is what, 23-24 year old ? That's a good deal. If there's no free roster spots at Red Wings defence, someone in cap hell will trade after these projects.
Those kind of possible cheap add-ons help on the era if you are a contender. You are starting to go against the cap, thanks to success, and this kind of possible cheap guys could help on your 3rd pair or something to enter in. You don't have to pay 3-4M for a 3rd pair defencer.
You just need to draft multiple ones (like Wings did) and then only one has to hit. It's very very long-term-sighted building.
thehockeywriters.com
