They went harder for UFA and vets, for sure. Raymond emerging is nice and Larkin continues to be a low key member of the most important player on a given team (their record without him is San Jose level bad or worse). 13 free agents though and not a lot of new blood percolating up - Berggren seems like he's bridling to get into an NHL lineup and I could see that being a delicate balance between fresh legs and returning vets. Same on their blueline where the upgrades to the guys they had are probably coming from within... but icing multiple young defensemen are not known for being the way to quick success.
I feel so bad for the fans. And I'm angry at the shysters and con men the league have trotted out as owners. How they allowed the huckster to clear his runway to doing this by sabotaging his arena lease and pushing the team to ASU. And that they went from "we're going to build an arena" to "hey, SLC!" in moments. Clearly that stuff was already worked up. Per Tourigny after the game last night, it was the news of the SLC sale that ripped through their lineup coinciding with their fall out of the playoff race. Not only did they decide to relocate, they did it when the team was actually close to no longer being the dumping ground the league has used it as for the last 10 years.
