Honestly at this point I wonder if Dubas is trying to do stuff and it's just that nobody wants our garbage. I doubt teams are chomping at the bit to add Reilly Smith or Lars Eller.
@Gurglesons is gonna say I'm sipping from the copium straw. Maybe he's right.
Tbh though like I said earlier we have until July 2nd to see what the plan is. Not much is likely to happen after that. So I'm saving my vitriol (or praise in the off chance Dubas has a good off season) for then.
When does the new (or rather the 24-25) Salary Cap structure actually start? When does the cap officially start and when are players officially off of the books? I thought it was July 1st or whenever the Cup Finals ended but honestly it could be before that. Dubas talked a lot about more interest and possibilities once the cap actually went up.
With regards to trades, I mean if it's Detroit talking to us and Anaheim, there's a waiting game in some respects. Just because he aren't hearing about it doesn't mean stuff isn't happening behind closed doors.
We're in a nice position because all we really need is a 1LW. If you sign one guy come July 1st:
XXXX-Sid-Rust
Bunting-Geno-Rakell
Smith-Eller-DOC
Poulin-Acciari-Puljujarvi
Petts-EK
POJ-Letang
Graves-JSI
Jarry-Neds
With Pono, Yager, Koivunen, etc in the wings waiting for a chance. I imagine they get a 6/7/8 guy or two as well.
But bottom line, there's isn't TOO much Dubas HAS to do. We all want change for the sake of change. Gurgs wants Mikheyev for the pure honor of getting a 2nd round pick without any regard of how that fits the team now. Historically though, a lot of trades happen 1-2 days before the draft. We are at the correct "pace" for moves based on recent history. Relax people.
But again, that wasn't really the problem with Hextall's tenure. His strategy would have been fine had he not done moronically stupid shit like "trade a 2nd for Granlund", "downgrade on defense by sending Matheson and Marino out for Petry and Rutta", "trade McCann for nothing and lose 2 quality depth players in the expansion draft instead of 1", "sign Jeff Carter to a 2 year deal at age 37" and such.
The mindset of trying to stay competitive while not hemorrhaging major picks and prospects is an entirely viable mindset and what this team should be doing. Hextall just did a dogshit job at it.
And it took several trades to rectify it.
It will take us awhile to truly recover from the damage of the Hextall tenure.