As always, the sun comes up.
At the end of the day, you have an elite goalie locked up at a fair AAV which is never a bad thing.
Where the bad thing comes in is the youth movement that we wanted, that we really needed, is dead moving forward. That 18 game streak is going to push the team to compete now, which I honestly don't think they are capable of in the current Western conference.
Not with Dallas, Colorado, Vegas and Edmonton structured the way that they are.
That being said, it does look like the Preds will get Skeji locked up on Monday. My guess is $6.25.
Per Friedman: Necas is probably going to Columbus. My guess is the 4th overall pick is in the mix there. I wouldn't be surprised if Laine is too if the deal is bigger.
If I had to put money on it, I think Marner stays in Toronto. If he doesn't, Vegas or Utah make the most sense.
I really do think Stephenson is a Pred on Monday.
Someone I would like the team to explore is Bertuzzi, but I haven't heard his name associated with the team at all.
As far as Askarov goes... I just hope they move him now. I think waiting would be a massive mistake. We don't want him to be Tomasino'd.
I'm not as disappointed as I was last night, but I'm resigned to: if we are going for it, we better f***ing go for it. If we believe in this core go get the pieces we need to compete with the big dogs. Don't half ass it.