I’m legitimately curious who Hoglander would be blocking that is an upgrade on him. Do people not realize that what Hoglander has become is already likely as good or better than what someone like Poulin or Ponomarev will become? With Beauvillier and O’Connor both as UFAs, Hoglander would most likely be taking one of their spots.
If Hoglander was 29 like Bunting, I’d totally understand the complaints. But saying no to a cost controlled, 24 year old DOC clone (let’s call him that for simplicity) because “he’ll be blocking WBS players” makes zero sense. He’s a young player himself and is better than those WBS players. They need more players like DOC in their bottom-6, and Hoglander fits exactly that. He’s the kind of bottom-6 guy they should be targeting while they’re cleaning out the rest of the gunk with Hayes, Acciari and such.
I probably would t re-sign O’Connor if they trade for Hoglander, but Hoglander, Lizotte and O’Connor would be a nice start to a rebuilt bottom-6 that both fits how Sullivan wants to deploy it and also can provide some nice secondary scoring and speed. If he’d ever give Puljujarvi a chance, he’d fit in that group as well. Those guys plus guys like Ponomarev and Poulin coming up is how they should build their bottom-6. Add McGroarty and Tomisano in a top-6 role (probably both with Malkin) and that's the kind of "youth movement" this team should have. My goal lineup forward group with that in mind would be something like:
Rakell-Crosby-Rust
McGroarty-Malkin-Tomasino
Hoglander-Glass-O'Connor
Lizotte-Ponomarev-Puljujarvi
Poulin