Seemingly, huh Jimbo. Maybe it seems like that to his peabrain lol
Fox & Lindgren were acquired as prospects before they ever turned pro by New York. So while they weren’t drafted by New York, they also weren’t getting established NHLers in the deal at the time of trade. Honestly both of those guys have probably hit their highest range of outcomes as players too. I don’t think many thought Fox would be arguably the best defensemen in the entire league nor do I think people thought Lindgren would be a mid-pair defender. Then New York drafted & developed Miller. So three out of the four in their top four were not established.
Carolina drafted & developed Slavin & Pesce. Slavin arguably being the best defensemen in the entire league as well.
NJ is more of an example currently of a defensemen that’s more so been bought with just Severson being that lone drafted/developed guy. But they’re also about to have Hughes & Nemec factoring in soon so when these current guy’s deals run up NJ shouldn’t be pressured to pay above market for the sake of keeping these guys into the fold.
Trouba is honestly more in line with what the Flyers would do in that overpaying for an overrated player. But Carolina & NJ they generally have targeted undervalued players in trade/free agency to bring in. NJ paid a big first time UFA deal to Hamilton but Hamilton legitimately is one of the best defensemen in the entire league so they are getting return investment on it currently.
The Flyers went out & paid big prices in trade pieces/contract for guys like DeAngelo & Ristolainen. The Flyers traded/signed these guys at the least optimal window possible. They traded for Ristolainen as a pending UFA & DeAngelo as a last year RFA. They did this all without truly having an understanding of who these players were/are which is the worst part.