Still digesting this signing.
In terms of saving some cap space by going with vets. I suppose you could look at it like they took the $2M they were spending on a Foegele or McGinn and turned it into 2 veteran bottom 6 players (Leivo and now Stepan) vs just 1 while saving another $750k on what it would have taken to extend just one of McGinn or Foegele.
I like the potential versatility of Stepan, if he isn’t completely cooked. Another guy to take right side faceoffs is valuable on special teams. I just hope the second outcast they’ve acquired from last year’s OTT team is better than the first one (Paquette) who turned out to be a raging turd.
The bottom 6 is almost set. They still really need a LW to slot next to Trocheck or Staal that they can count on for 40pts or more. Tatar is still out there, but I don’t see how they add another forward without subtracting from the current roster, in one way or another. My guess now is that scoring help, if they do anything, will come via trade.