I think what he (or someone similar) would be good for is allowing the team to maintain momentum and confidence even when one kid or another is having issues. Which is kind of important, because if the team ends up suffering as a result then that brings down everybody.
Well if I could sign a Stephenson (or equivalent) for just 1-2 years at the AAV he'll command, then I'm all in. It's if you subsequently envision paying him a #2C salary in later years when he's putting up 30 pts, then that can also bring everybody down too... and possibly at a time when it (hopefully) might matter more to the team.
Anyway, I do want the Preds to sign 2 top-4 D also... and it could be argued that is also a case of "treading water"... i.e. just backfilling for McDonagh and Carrier with Pesce + X doesn't obviously make us much better either. The difference to me is that I just don't see more top-4 D candidates in our pipeline. Molendyk is one and...
Plus Josi is getting up there. I like Stastney too, not sure yet about top-4. But I just don't see enough candidates in the pipeline on D for me to think we even have decent odds of having kids stepping up into ALL of those spots. Whereas at F, at least we have a pile of them on hand.
I won't hyperventilate if Trotz signs Stephenson to that 6x$6M contract. But I will definitely look askance.