It was the Nyquist -- Jenner -- Laine line that gave the team a chance to play in the PO in 2021/22. And it was led by Laine. In 2022/23 he played often with Roslovic. Despite that (and injuries) he had better PPG stats than Gaudreau, he led the line. I think Patrik is underrated. Because he's long since ceased to be a player who can only shoot, figuratively speaking.Gaudreau isn’t the franchise player or the player they are building around.
He’s a superstar player who became available and they got him, an awesome addition but not the player you are building around.
Jiricek/Fantilli/Johnson is the expected core they are going to try to build this rebuild around and Laine& Gaudreau are high end ”support” players for it.
& you know they are going through a rebuild, those take time. & in comparison to many other rebuilds this really hasn’t been a long one yet and right now looks to be in great shape.
You don’t rebuild a perfect roster in 1 offseason, now this team looks to be set for W& defense longterm. The next step is to figure out the C& G longterm, but as said before it’s a rebuild and you need time to see/figure out what you have in your young players and then make moves as you see fit.
If Johnson becomes a legit top6 then you’ve saved yourself a ton of high end assets& cap. If he doesn’t then you know you have to make a move and you have the assets to make a move.
This was always going to be a growth/development year and when they are ready to make a push(2025->) Gaudreau will still be Gaudreau
& of course I’m listing the top6 for this year with the players we know they have in roster& that top6 has potential to be legit at the end of season.
With potential to be elite by 2024/25 season, how could you really argue otherwise?
Even without an addition they should have 4 legit 1st line talents on their top6 including a legit 1C. Heck maybe even 5 if Marchenko keeps developing.
At first, fans (and not only them) said he needed a center-playmaker, or at least a winger. When he proved that wasn't true, I got this new theory. And when that turns out not to be true either?
P.S. On what basis are you saying that Johnson is a player you can build a team around. Kent is a great player, but it's still early to make a similar claim.