I'd have to disagree. JC was going for speed and skill, BA is going for more grit and skill. Sure there may be overlapping players based on what was available but this team had been incredibly soft for a few years and in just 1 season we have seen that change without a drop in skill. That doesn't mean we're better, we need to watch this play out to know but we look harder to play against on paper.
To pile on top of that, we still haven't been able to address 3 key issues over the years. We lack top end RD, top 6 centers and top 6 power forwards. Some of that may be resolved with Hayton, Jenik and Soderstrom but there's still likely a few years to develop them before we get those holes filled. That leaves a top 6 power forward.
Possibly. I think we lost more skill than people think. The funny thing is that even in adding more grit, we appear to have not lost speed though.
Maroon was the player that Chayka was looking for. That is the power forward type. As you mentioned, the draft picks of Hayton and Soderstrom cover the concept of C and RHD. They need to live up to that expectation, but if I didn't know any better, it would appear that we are at least trying to overcome those 3 elements in building the team.
As far as grit vs speed - that was a point in a different post that I had brought up. I think that a big part of Chayka's plan was to go after speed/skill in the first few years, so that we can establish that as an identity, as opposed to grit/skill. The reason why is because the grit guys can be found much more easily. Elite offensive players are what they are, but those bottom 6 types know that in order to stay in the league, they have to commit to being sandpaper towards the other team. Most of those grit types are coming in well under $3 M per year, and if over that, they are probably elite level power forward types. My opinion - way easier to add a bottom 6 grit/skill forward to a team that has speed/skill than it is to add a top 6 speed/skill player to a team of grit/skill. We tried to do that with JVR, but didn't have the best offer in FA.
Why did we not sign Maroon? We offered him more money than STL or Tampa did, if I recall. Maybe easier for a grit guy nearing the end of his career to sign with the team that has skill guys performing. I think that Maroon was interested, but again, without certain skill on our team, a player like Maroon may want to join a more "proven" team.
This is why I am disappointed in Tocchet. Was never really crazy about the hire. It appears he can teach, but the players haven't appeared to show the development that would be expected. Imagine if Strome, Fischer, Perlini, or anyone really stepped forward in their first 2 or 3 seasons. That could be the difference between getting Maroon, if he knew that he would line up with 0.7 ppg Strome, as opposed to 0.25 ppg Strome. Unfortunately, i think coaching is holding development back, and as a result, we will see this path happen too much, where we are the 2nd fiddle for free agency until we show that we have a capable top 6 who can keep pace with other top 6 forwards on the opposing team.
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