MBH
Players Play
I just don't see to many teams who have two #1-2 D on their top pair. Some teams are that fortunate, but its not necessary to win a cup in this league. Most teams have 2 really good D and 2 solid defensive d man, they play 1 of the top guys on the top pair and the other on the 2nd pair and plug in the other 2 solid defensive guys. Regardless if they are RD or LD. A guy like Hronek, you find yourself a solid defensive D and you got a pair who can play 22+ mins a night. You don't need to spend top 5 draft picks to get that guy. Same thing with Seider if he becomes what we are anticipating at this point. You can find solid defensive LD guys all day long that aren't going to make your team any weaker attacking the left side. You can pay these guys 3.5-4.5 mill instead of the 8+ Makar will eventually get. It would not be worth having 2 Makars one the same pairing. 16+ mill in cap on 1 D pair for what? You might just rather have a bigger bodied much cheaper defensive guy paired with him.
The next problem is, if you end getting lucky and drafting yourself a Makar or Hughes. Then what happens to Hronek or Seider? He doesn't get much if any PP time. These guys need opportunity to reach their best and continue to play at their peak. There is a point of diminishing return. Line 1, Seider makes most the offensive plays/outlets/etc. Line 2 Hronek makes most the offensive the plays/outlets/etc. Good players need the puck often to be good. Consider forwards for a minute, 3 Barzals isn't the most ideal line. You end up paying the cap hit to own all 3 of those Barzals but you don't end up getting 3 Barzals worth of impact. You just need some traditional opportunistic wingers (snipers or power forwards) when you have a guy who has the puck on his stick constantly. Guys who don't need to be highly involved with the puck and will contribute when given the opportunity by a player like Barzal. If you have a center like Scheifele who isn't your typical play making C then you might need a winger more like Connor or Ehlers who can split carrying the puck and execute zone entry and can create separation in the offensive zone. Scheifele likes to be around the net and shoot the puck more so than make plays.
You don't need to be drafting top 5 to land an ideal D partner for either of our 2 guys unless you don't think Seider is going to end up being a #1. Seider is a guy I'm willing to put all my marbles on though and draft C if there isn't a clear BPA.
Regardless, that's where we'll be drafting.
Hronek isn't really a top pairing guy, anyway, in my book. Not yet, anyway.
I wanted to draft Jake Sanderson this year.
Four years from now, I imagined a top 4 including
Johansson-Seider
Sanderson-Hronek
Maybe you flipflop those pairings.
Maybe McIsaac or Cholowski takes that spot Johansson has.
But Seider and Sanderson would each play 23-26 minutes a night, all the big minutes.
Both guys are potential transition monsters. They stop the attack and turn it around.
I look at a team like the Blues-
Pietrangelo/Parayko/Dunn/Bouwmeester
Or even the Caps
Carlson/Niskanen/Orlov
We get a big-minute defenseman on each side LS/RS... takes the heat off Hronek a bit. And then we've got a lot of options to fill the other roles... Johansson/Cholowski/Tuomisto/Lindstrom/McIsaac, etc etc etc