Some of these acquisitions highlight how adept Grier is getting/has become:
Celebrini showed Grier's ability to master a tank. Not a popular opinion, but getting Celebrini is a hidden return on the Burns, Karlsson, and Hertl trades.
Askarov showed Grier's ability to take advantage of a GM in a bad position, trading from a position of relative strength to acquire a blue-chip prospect
Dickinson felt like a repeat of DW's 2007 draft; it highlighted Grier's ability to read and predict a draft. No doubt the price to move up would have increased on draft day.
Graf tells us that Grier can attract undrafted free agents.
Musty and Halttunen indicate Grier's ability to find "sleepers" in the draft (though of course, it is still early).
Chernyshov showed Grier's ability to catch a falling knife and not overthink (like DW too frequently did).
Overall, there is no doubt that Grier has put thought into this rebuild; that isn't always a given (see Buffalo, Anaheim, Winnipeg, Edmonton, etc.)
Can't forget Tofolli, best UFA forward we've signed in what 20 years? Ever?
On Dickinson it was a great move because there seemed to be a consensus top 12, followed by a tier of Luchanko, Jiricek, Eiserman, Connelly, Stolberg, Helenius, Hage, and Nygard. I'd love to know where they had him rated. Could have him as high as three, could have been 10. I also wonder if Philly would have taken Dickinson (no college//agent threat like Buium had).
He also picked a really, really good window to tank. This is partially luck, but I remember in 2022 already hearing about the Bedard and Celebrini drafts, and you got to think it pushed Grier to dump assets- possibly even faster. This is part of why I don't begrudge Grier for icing such a shit team last year. Top odds were critical to get the franchise piece.
In a four year period the top picks have/had a lot of potential #1 centers/d-men/elite wingers. Bedard/Fantilli/Michkov/Carlsson/Smith, Celebrini/Levshunov, Hagens/Martone/Schaefer, McKenna/Bjork. It looks so much better than 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Think Sheng and Keegan (correct me if I'm wrong gents) recently mentioned on a podcast, that part of moving Burns, or certainly the new style was Grier and Quinn's plan to maximize Karlsson's value. He likely kept us out of the bottom three in the Bedard year, but I I'd rather have Smith+Dickinson than Fantilli or Carlsson.
Also, maybe with one of those two in the NHL last year, we'd have acquired pieces to insulate them, not traded Hertl, and potentially not had the pieces for Askarov. So maybe it's Fantilli, Hertl, Levshunov instead of Smith, Celebrini, Dickinson, and Askarov.
So, so excited about what we're building. Hope Hasso is patient and allows for two more years of steady growth, but I'd say we're officially on top 4 RHD watch.