Legionnaire
Help On The Way
My position has little to do with prospect timelines and much more to do with salary cap and taking advantage of ELCs.
I don't really care about the ultra conservative overripening view of prospect development that many fans have. I disagree with your statements on it obviously. And you will find random examples of it to justify your view on it anyways. (But to use Kopitar as your first example is hilarious considering he was 19 his rookie year and already arguably the best player on his NHL team...)
The idea is that if you can put a good roster around a bunch of ELC players that will very likely exceed the values of their contracts then you certainly should. That's how teams win Stanley cups. The fact that we still have Doughty and Kopitar here is great because it fills arguably the toughest positions #1C and #1D. We also have a #1G in Petersen. That's a great start...
It's up to Blake to figure out the best way to take advantage of our asserts and cap space to put a good team together.
We absolutely should not "mortgage the future" or whatever other buzz words the people on here use when they even think about someone suggesting trying to win lol.
Some of you have to stop thinking so Binary where it's either tank or go all in....
I think it's smart and strategic to try to win now and I think we can do that without going absolutely all in.
Binary is about all there is. The vast majority of talent is found in the top 3. Otherwise you're in the "blackhole".
The unrestricted free agent market only nets you aging overpaid vets.
Trades are usually going to see the same as free agency because it is super rare for teams to trade young talent unless they are due for a new contract which they can't afford or don't want to pay. Take the Blues for example: They traded for ROR but lost Pietroangelo after their Cup win. The Kings aren't even close to the time to make that kind of trade.
So? If we start winning we are further from number one OA which is the best way to gain talent and maintain cost certaintity.
IMO the rebuild isn't over until we address the D. No team is giving up young talented D - especially after the RyJo - Jones trade.