Tend to agree.
In 2017-18, we traded a 1st for Stats and a 4th for Smokin' Joe Morrow.
Stats was great.
In 2018-19, we spent a 1st and condtional 4th on Hayes, and got rid of Lemieux. PoMo played Hayes like he couldn't stand the guy, and while the big man scored at a decent clip, his key contribution was to help out the Blues with a key save.
We also spent a 6th on Beaulieu, a decision that would haunt Jets D prospects and HFBoards posters for years to come, and 7ths on Sunshine Matt Hendrricks and some guy called Kielsevich who never played.
2019-20 saw some Chevy brilliance with the Trouba and DeMelo trades, a nice bit of bookkepping with a 5th for Hayes, and headscratcher with Cody Eakin for a 4th -- Eakin played like a guy who couldn't wait for the season to end so he could hop the next plane outa town, and the Jets limped into the playoffs, and never took off.
In 20-21, Stats came back home for a 4th, and did what he could, though he wasn't quite the same player and the Jets weren't the same team. Jordie Benn brought that "big body" and minimal skillz, and tried to hit some guys for a 6th.
21-22 was a busy year. We paid a pair of 2nds for Dillon (good) and a 3rd and a whole lot of cap space for Schmitty (less good), blew a 5th on Zach Sanford, who was Cody Eakin 2.0, with even less skill and even less desire to be here, and finally got someone to take Beaulieu off our paws. And, of course, The Great Copp Trade, the jewel in Chevy's crown.
22-23 brought in Names and Niederreiter for a second and some magic beans, galvanizing the team D. No big splashes, no deep PO run, but some nice foundational pieces going forward, both great value adds.
23-24 exit PLD and enter a haul of talent in GV, AI, RK and a 2024 2nd. Brilliant!
Then a 4th for vet who would barely play in Doghouse Miller, and a 1st for SeanMon, who brought some stability and veteran nous to the 2nd line and PP, whilst playing at a gentle stroll, and (more controversially) a deadline deal for TT, who cost a 2nd and 3rd, adding some goals and not much else. The team got a bit scorier and quite a bit slower, and showed little pushback (or tactics, or flexibility) in a PO rout.
Thus far we have Coughlan, 2025's Colin Miller, and nothing else. History seems to show that Chevy does well in the offseason and in-season but hasn't been lights-out at the TDL, where we shed 3 1sts for Stats (great), Hayes (bad) and Monahan (good and not so good), and never quite solved the 2C puzzle.
We also have some inexpensive assets outperforming their asks in Nino and Names, a solid D in Samberg, and a youngster in Kupari who isn't scoring a ton but is a strong plus player elsewhere. Given how tight the Jets room is, as ShutupSawyer reminds us 35x per game, is it worth shipping out another 1st/ + for a few games of Player X, or does Chevy look to add strong depth and/ or sneaky good players like Names and Nino, who might be a better fit? Do we need a great, good, or competent C for Perfetti and Ehlers? Does Ehlers go?
Stats v 1.0 was a perfect add -- fit the playstyle, made linemates better, helped out in the room. Not sure we've gotten close since then, and this may be the best team since 2017-18. It's a tough ask.
My tuppence -- fit / complementarity above all else.
