I don’t think many are aware of the following:
Long-term it doesn’t matter one bit how many top picks we get and how much talent we assemble if Gorton fail to be able to lock up players on good contracts — border line steals. Look at Toronto.
I don’t get the lack of attention we put on trying to get good contracts. Go and play at Capfriendly, how good can a team be if everyone are paid market value? 80m cap, let’s say the 4th line cost you 5m and the two goalies 10m. That leaves you with 65m or 4.3m per average for the top 15 skaters.
Panarin and Trouba takes 20m of those 65. 45m or 3.46m on average left for the remaining 13 top fifteen skaters.
Let’s say we resign Kreider to 7m per and TDA to say 6m. What’s left? 32m or 2.9m on average for the remaining eleven, i.e 2.9m on average left for what currently is Ziba, Buch, Kakko, Fox, Skjei, Chytil, Lemieux, Howden, Kravy down the line, Lindgren, and co.
Let’s say we ONLY keep 3 of those guys at an average of 6-7m per, make it an even 20m (sounds really cheap for guys like Ziba, Kakko, Fox and co, but whatever), the other EIGHT of the top 3 line and pairings (ie no 4th lineers), would have 12 m to split between them.
I know many don’t get my whining about Gorton’s bridge deals and I get the allure for keeping Kreider, but I think these are things that will be quite obvious in a few years, the effects of it...