I think there is a balance to be had between trading high picks for bad players year after year, and trading all our good players for picks and going full tank.
Hell of a lot easier to stumble upon diamonds in the rough when you don't average two draft picks fewer than the league average over a 7 year period.
I'd say trading late 1sts 3 times has had mixed results...Stastny was great, absolutely made a difference...Trading for Hayes not so much, but I wonder if Chevy already knew Trouba's play and that at least got him a draft pick back...Monahan definitely helped the team on the PP, but I think fans would have been equally mad if he ended up in Edmonton and Chevy did nothing with a team playing with confidence.
Then you consider that picks traded for Morrow, Beaulieu, De Melo, Stastny (2nd time), Nino, Miller were all players that re-signed and it's hard to say if any of these guys would have considered the Jets if they hadn't got into the dressing room and felt like they wanted to be here...
Dillon trade brought toughness that was badly needed after losing Buff, so that's a tough one to argue...
Schmidt was endorsed by a player who re-signed we'll never know as fans what he brought to the team, but again with a team that was too serious maybe his presence was needed...
Toffoli trade and the 7th for a guy who never played a game are the only 2 trades that you wonder about, and Toffoli had a lot to do with Vilardi's health.
The big thing is hitting on picks...you get guys like Appleton with a 6th, personally I think he has been better than Roslovic (1st) as a checking line winger.
Hellebuyck is the coup...
I'm excited about Milic and Julien...
The cupboards aren't bare with prospects...But the development angle is fundamental...Going with 3 rookie centers on the Moose last year was a testament that winning at the farm level was not the ultimate goal...carving out roles was.