Being a GM is an interesting job at the very least. You're tasked with building a winning roster and/or for the future while managing all sorts of personalities.
I understand Trotz's short and even long-term plans. Go big in FA, re-sign your elite goalie and hope you have enough talent in the pipeline to supplement the roster to make 2 or 3 good runs at the Cup. After that time period, you hope that you're young talent is overtaking some of the older vets by pushing them down the depth chart while keeping them around for leadership and intangibles.
My guess is Trotz wanted to know he had a goalie in Saros to compete the next 2-3 years, be damned the consequences down the road. Saros could age gracefully and have another 6-8 good years left in him. He could be done in 2-3 years, we just don't know.
While I get where Askarov is coming from, there are a couple of reasons the team made the decisions they did. One of the biggest ones was what I stated above, going for it the next couple of years and Trotz felt he needed a dependable goalie. On top of that, bringing Korn back in to evaluate the prized prospect. Why Trotz wouldn't trust Vanderklok alone on this I'm unsure of but if Korn thinks he needs more time in the minors, I'm going to trust his judgment as I know he can develop top-notch goalie talent.
What Askarov fails to realize is his best path and chance for success in the NHL is by listening to Korn. Korn will get the most out of him and the kid could be something special if he'd put his ego aside and put in the work. If he came to camp and worked his tail off, does he supplant Wedgewood as the backup? Maybe he does. Would that have been this best for his development, absolutely not. What they could've told him is, you beat out Wedgewood for the job BUT if you want to be a star in this league, go to Milwaukee, put in the work, put in the reps and it will pay off for you. What we're going to do is bring you up to start 20 or so games this year. Wedgewood is here in case Saros gets hurt or lit up in a game. We want you to be ready in case he gets hurt and the net is yours while he's out.
With this line of thinking/strategy, he's getting his work and games in at Milwaukee, he's getting his games in the NHL and the team can decide, does this kid have it or not. If he comes up with a chip on his shoulder and lights it up, you have him back up Saros in the playoffs. Maybe he gets some playoff time too and he lights it up. If he does, maybe you consider moving Saros before his NMC kicks in. I truly believe this is where Askarov was short-sighted. Sure, it looks like there isn't a path forward here for 9 years. If you're as good as you think you are, you make a space for yourself on the roster with your play. You go out and dominate. It's unfortunate he's had two playoff runs that look like most of our goalies.
Come to camp, make a case for yourself. Make it a hard decision for them to send you down. Make them call you up because you're shutting teams down nightly and in dominating fashion. Great players seem to have a chip on their shoulder, this is what makes them who they are. Yeah, you might think your path is blocked. Do something ungoalie like and unblock it.
While Saros has been relatively healthy, you just never know when someone goes down for an extended period of time and you're given the reigns. Be ready to seize that moment.
Will the Preds do any of what I suggested above, more than likely not, as in like 99.9% not happening. For a team that seems to struggle putting a Cup winning team on the ice, you have to make bold decisions and while I get what Trotz did, he and Poile should've moved Saros the season before last when everyone was getting traded away. It made the most sense then so you didn't end up where you are today with a soon to be 30 year old goalie on a massive deal with a great prospect waiting in the wings wanting to get moved.
Hindsight is always great and I'm sure in 2-3 years and then in another 7-9 years it'll be interesting to see how this all played out.