I think it would be a mistake to unconditionally target offensive upside (certainly to the extent of being naive about downside). It's cartoonish. Not to say they should draft a Nic Dowd at 17 but they do need highly competitive players that can be trusted in any situation. While they've added various younger players recently none rise to the level of being true all-situations tonesetters. The closest thing this team has for that is John Carlson, a 34 year-old workhorse that was used so much it negatively impacted his offense (and theirs overall). Even he has a limited ceiling in truly setting the tone. Otherwise they hope Leonard develops into that but it's not as though all they're missing is a headliner or two. They could stand to upgrade in a lot of different areas that maybe aren't as glaring but nonetheless would put them on firmer ground to at least be a stronger possession team and harder to play against. It's not just skill level that determines that.
While I'm on the record of favoring a slight trade up for Catton or Eiserman if possible some of the takes on secondary options are steaming. Some seem to read certain attributes, glaze over, tune out and pigeonhole the player based off of it. That was certainly present last year re: Leonard. So I, and I think most, should be open to a more comprehensive sense of what makes a player valuable. Come playoff time teams need Hockey Players whose competitiveness sets the tone all over the ice. It's great to get that in a skilled player at the top of the lineup but we certainly see it's not sheer skill level making the difference most of the time. The Caps don't even really have that basic competitiveness tonesetter, as exhibited in the NYR series, and certainly shouldn't expect that Leonard alone will be sufficient.
