Classic Devil
Spirit of 1988
So, I know this has probably been covered ad nauseam, but I want to cover the assets we gave up here.
Our window may be quite long. But our prime window is going to be 2022-2023 until 2026-27. We have five years in our prime as a franchise. After that Hischier becomes a UFA, Marino becomes a UFA, our current kids (Nemec, L. Hughes, etc.) are all going to be free agents... we could well continue to be contenders after that point, especially if we trade and draft well in the interim. But we should not assume that after that point we'll stay competitive.
That means our prime, the period we need to be focused on, is the next five seasons (including this one). Those are the years we should highlight.
With that in mind, let's consider what we gave up.
First, Fabian Zetterlund. Zetterlund is a hard piece to give up, because he's a mid-round pick that made good. Losing him sucks, because he's likely to be good in exactly this period of prime. Zetterlund is 23 years old, at the end of our big window he'll be 27. He's a perfect depth forward for our team, at the ideal age, playing the perfect style. But we have to give to get and Meier is also going to be the ideal age during that same period.
Second, two first round picks. Those two first round picks are the hardest thing for us to give up, because they are prime assets. But, players drafted in 2023 and 2024 are likely to contribute in 2025-2026 at the soonest. That means they are assets valuable at the end of our window, and not useful for the next few prime years. It sucks to lose them, but again Meier is gonna be a prime asset for all five years of this period (he better be, or Fitzy f***ed up royally).
Third, Okhotiuk. Nikita is a good defensive defenseman, one with top-4 potential. He's physical and losing him sucks. But, that said, this team only has room for one of him and Bahl. If we kept both on the roster we'd eventually end up losing one of them on waivers, and better to spend them as an asset than lose them on waivers.
Fourth, Mukhamadullin. In some ways this one hurts me the most, because this is a guy who committed to us years ago when he didn't have to and expressed a willingness to toil in Utica to earn his stripes. Trading him before he even comes to the AHL therefore hurts. On the other hand, it means when he moves to America he'll get to settle in one place and not have to worry about us trading him, so that's good for him. Like Zetterlund, Mukh is the ideal age for our prime. He's the right age to start contributing as soon as next season and then be a big contributer through the 2026-27 prime.
But we have Hughes and Nemec.
He's never going to get a fair shot with Hughes and Nemec ahead of him. Never. Like Holtz this year, he may well deserve to be in the NHL out of camp next year, but there was no chance of that happening.
So, what did we do? We bought Meier - who at 26, will be 31 at the end of our prime period. That means he's the ideal age, just before what will likely be his best statistical seasons, to be a huge contributor in our core. We also did not give up any of our "next in line" assets, not even Holtz, who (astonishingly) remains in our pipeline as a potential top-6 RH shot contributor as soon as next season (he better get a real shot).
Our forward roster for next season looks something like:
Meier - Hughes - Bratt
Holtz - Hischier - Mercer
Palat - Boqvist - Sharangovich
X - McLeod - Bastian
If we can get Meier and Bratt both signed to identical ~$8.5M contracts, we're in ridiculously good shape.
Our window may be quite long. But our prime window is going to be 2022-2023 until 2026-27. We have five years in our prime as a franchise. After that Hischier becomes a UFA, Marino becomes a UFA, our current kids (Nemec, L. Hughes, etc.) are all going to be free agents... we could well continue to be contenders after that point, especially if we trade and draft well in the interim. But we should not assume that after that point we'll stay competitive.
That means our prime, the period we need to be focused on, is the next five seasons (including this one). Those are the years we should highlight.
With that in mind, let's consider what we gave up.
First, Fabian Zetterlund. Zetterlund is a hard piece to give up, because he's a mid-round pick that made good. Losing him sucks, because he's likely to be good in exactly this period of prime. Zetterlund is 23 years old, at the end of our big window he'll be 27. He's a perfect depth forward for our team, at the ideal age, playing the perfect style. But we have to give to get and Meier is also going to be the ideal age during that same period.
Second, two first round picks. Those two first round picks are the hardest thing for us to give up, because they are prime assets. But, players drafted in 2023 and 2024 are likely to contribute in 2025-2026 at the soonest. That means they are assets valuable at the end of our window, and not useful for the next few prime years. It sucks to lose them, but again Meier is gonna be a prime asset for all five years of this period (he better be, or Fitzy f***ed up royally).
Third, Okhotiuk. Nikita is a good defensive defenseman, one with top-4 potential. He's physical and losing him sucks. But, that said, this team only has room for one of him and Bahl. If we kept both on the roster we'd eventually end up losing one of them on waivers, and better to spend them as an asset than lose them on waivers.
Fourth, Mukhamadullin. In some ways this one hurts me the most, because this is a guy who committed to us years ago when he didn't have to and expressed a willingness to toil in Utica to earn his stripes. Trading him before he even comes to the AHL therefore hurts. On the other hand, it means when he moves to America he'll get to settle in one place and not have to worry about us trading him, so that's good for him. Like Zetterlund, Mukh is the ideal age for our prime. He's the right age to start contributing as soon as next season and then be a big contributer through the 2026-27 prime.
But we have Hughes and Nemec.
He's never going to get a fair shot with Hughes and Nemec ahead of him. Never. Like Holtz this year, he may well deserve to be in the NHL out of camp next year, but there was no chance of that happening.
So, what did we do? We bought Meier - who at 26, will be 31 at the end of our prime period. That means he's the ideal age, just before what will likely be his best statistical seasons, to be a huge contributor in our core. We also did not give up any of our "next in line" assets, not even Holtz, who (astonishingly) remains in our pipeline as a potential top-6 RH shot contributor as soon as next season (he better get a real shot).
Our forward roster for next season looks something like:
Meier - Hughes - Bratt
Holtz - Hischier - Mercer
Palat - Boqvist - Sharangovich
X - McLeod - Bastian
If we can get Meier and Bratt both signed to identical ~$8.5M contracts, we're in ridiculously good shape.
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