the distinction here is between 'new school' systems/coaching and 'new school' roster building/management. that's not to say the jarmo-era jackets haven't embraced modern trends when it comes to drafting – because they have – but there's more to a front office than just that.
the jackets roster building has been modern at times, but has fallen victim to outdated thought process by way of being:
- overly broad (bring in a lot of young players, let the chips fall where they may),
- reactionary (we lacked X trait, better go get a guy who has it)
- overly-positional (defense was weak, go get more defensemen)
- overly fixated on building through the draft
successful modern front offices, on the other hand:
- are more strategic
- are more targeted
- build from the top down
- are bold to the point of almost being harsh
- focus on getting the best 'bite from the apple' with their assets
- don't care nearly as much about the draft
the last point there may be controversial but i believe that over-reliance on the draft has significantly hamstrung this organization, even if i like the way they draft overall.
teams like vegas and florida have historically eschewed the draft but still build value by either fixing depreciated assets + giving them ample opportunity or by filling the fringes of the lineup with limited but role-appropriate players, while also taking huge swings to add long-term core pieces (i.e. eichel + tkachuk trades).
florida in particular has moved a ton of picks/prospects (i.e. tippett, levi, etc) whose hypothetical value outweighed their on-ice value, only to backfill with unheralded or struggling players who then provided both immediate and future value (verhaeghe, forsling, montour, bennett, reinhart).
in practice, florida identifying carter verhaeghe and putting him in a position to succeed with ample opportunity made owen tippett expendable, which netted them giroux. but verhaeghe was also cheaper than tippett, more developed and significantly better.
as a process, this is both faster and, weirdly enough, safer than the draft because you are making more strategic decisions based on more data. you don't need to gamble and wait on players to develop, you embrace the meat market and find assets you can improve at a reduced cost.
why wait on a guy like chinakhov or sillinger to pop off when you can get similar/better value, sooner, at a lower price by finding a depreciated asset, and double dip by moving those two guys to bolster your roster/asset cache?
