I'm also holding out hope that one of Othmann or Berard or maybe somebody else sheds expectations and becomes a legit star.
All of the top contenders except for f***ing Colorado and their 19-year rebuild have had non-lottery picks become core guys.
That might sound crazy but if I told you in June of 2019 "in 720 days, they're going to be announcing that Adam Fox won the Norris," you would have me committed. It does happen. You do hit on guys.
I'll respond to both- I mean ideally Panarin ends up with the kind of longevity you hope for from a finesse winger and is still a PPG player at the end of his contract. I think that should be the minimum expectation.
Maybe Zibby isn't able to play as an all situations 1C in 4 years but he should still be able to center the 2nd line or perhaps move to wing, and as long as he is on the PP with Fox and Panarin he will produce.
The 2nd window idea I think has a lot of merit to it, but NYR need to build depth (players that also won't be super expensive to re-sign) and that's what I'm hoping for from Berard/Othmann/Cuylle/others.
If this team had a bottom 6 of Pouliot-Brassard-Nash and Moore-Boyle-Dorsett we'd be cup favorites. Gotta get that balance.
But as long as we have Adam Fox here in NYR blue I don't think we should be rebuilding. He's a franchise player that you build around.