I think that line is successful because they sacrifice it all for the grind. If offense comes from it then great but it’s not the expectation nor is it the need. It’s not TT’s game. Rod doesn’t really expect scoring from them.
I think that might have been the result but not necessarily the expectation. You can see some of that in the increase in Nookie's scoring. But when Nino was on that line, he was indeed the designated scorer. That line was all about cycle, cycle, cycle, Nino pop out to the slot and shoot, cycle, cycle, cycle...rinse and repeat.
I do agree that Rod was likely happy with the defensive results regardless, but I don't think he would have sacrificed opportunistic scoring for pure defense...
If the cap does go up as expected, the value of all contracts might change very quickly.
Personally, I believe this is a bit of a misconception, especially next season. Take a look at the pending UFAs/RFAs and most teams have big contracts to consider. The suspected contenders more so. In the end, the rising cap does mostly raise all boats, but the speedboats get raised a bit more. Austin Matthews is going to eat a lot of cap space. Stamkos and Hagel are going to eat a bunch of cap space. Devon Toews is going to eat a good chunk of cap space. Going down roster after roster, this seems to be particularly true for the usual suspects.
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