Kostin fits here, different role players simply fit better on different teams. He was scoring at a 20 goal rate here and was taken in the 1st round, skates fast, and is physical, only 25 years old.
I mean alright fine, lets get someone way better, but also be prepared to pay like way, way more for maybe 25 goals instead of 20. Kostin could likely be had for cheap, just have to find a 3rd team to retain a few hundred K. Why not buy low on someone who has a good chance of outperforming the contract for once.
We passed on Tkachuk, Barzal, Aho, DeBrincat, etc. Broberg is a walk in the park, and he's playing no.4 in St. Louis still. The management teams here suck at drafting/development it isn't exactly breaking news.
Nurse say what you want about him has been *a lot* better since Stetcher moved onto his right side. He's playing at least as well as he ever did with Ceci, probably better.
Defensively 5 on 5 they've been solid the last 3 games (3 goals allowed total in those 3 games, 1 of them being a goal Ekholm put into his own net, so a fluke). Awful special teams and a lack of scoring from our top 6 is the reason we're 2-4 instead of 4-2.