I really don't know what's so hard to understand here. Damon Severson has played his entire career on pathetic teams, for the same organisation and we are once again going to miss the playoffs unless something major happens. As a pro athlete, having the option to handpick your team is probably the best privilege they have and he'll be able to do so in about 18 months.
Like I explained earlier, some players who go through lots of losing and who can maybe see a light at the end of the tunnel want to stick around for that light. Taylor Hall appeared to be one of those for the Oilers, he was bummed he was traded to a worse team.
Why the hell would he choose to stay here when he can go anywhere he wants, based on the salary he'll ask. He can choose to go to a legit contender for peanuts or cash in like Dougie and play for a team who needs help.
It's hilarious that you cite Dougie as a player who cashed in - do you think Dougie Hamilton had more than 5 offers for his services? Why do you think that is? Why do you think Hamilton couldn't 'go anywhere he wants?
I'm not saying there's no chance we resign him, what I'm saying is that it would not be in our best interest to do so, knowing who we have pushing for possible jobs in the next year or two. Yes, I do realize that our best prospects do not play the same side as Severson but I also realize that not all teams have 3LHD and 3 RHD. It would be the ideal situation but wouldn't be the end of the world if it wasn't the case.
This is part of why it makes sense to wait a year - to see where those prospects are at. Luke Hughes probably moves over to the left side at Michigan when Power leaves. There are some lefties who can play the right side, but we see less and less of it around the league.
As for Nico, he's not scoring at a better pace then he was and will probably finish around the same PPG he's been posting since joining the league in 2017-18, so yeah, that's what I call stagnating.
You're right, playing with an MVP Taylor Hall, Jesper Bratt, and Kyle Palmieri as your 3 most common linemates gives you the same point-generating ability as playing with Pavel Zacha, Tomas Tatar, and sure, Jesper Bratt in third. So you've got an MVP, a 3rd liner, and a 1st liner in 2017-18 and then two middle-sixers and a 1st liner in the other case.
Mercer isn't stagnating or declining because it's his 1st year, didn't think I had to explain this. Nathan Bastian was almost run out of town by 90% of this board last year, including yourself if I remember correctly
What the hell are you talking about, everybody freaked out that Bastian was going to be exposed to expansion and wanted to make side deals with Seattle to keep him. You're not very good at reading this board.
I couldn't be happier about the success he's having this year. With his play so far, it'll maybe wake up the "anti grrrrrrit" committee that players like him are an important part of a winning formula and the absence of Wood is more detrimental then some might think.
Wood's absence is hardly detrimental at all. I do think running the goalie helps and the Devils could use players who routinely bump the goalie, but I don't really miss Wood's inability to play within a system or use his teammates.
P.S. I'm aware that Hall was born and raised in Calgary but he spent the first 6 years of his professional life, starting from the age of 18, in Edmonton... wasn't talking about where he took his first baby steps as a toddler.
When someone refers to a place that somebody 'grew up', it means somewhere they spent time between the ages of 0 and 18. This is especially true of something like professional ultra-high-level hockey where these things are sharply delineated by the entry draft. Jack Hughes did not grow up in New Jersey.
