A great learning experience and some good signs for next year with Broberg looking good, Skinner as well. Plus the main core being back
I think we have a really good shot at the cup next year, but after that who knows, given contract situations
I do think we are 1 or 2 years behind schedule of where we should be. Teams like Pitt/Chicago/TB made deep serious runs when there top end talent was a few years younger than McDrai. They then learned from those Cup finals losses and had 3-4 more years of being Cup contender as they had all core players locked in for good contracts for a few more years
We basically have next year to really do our damage. After than Drai/Boouchard are both up for contracts and even if they resign, its for a higher cap hit and thatll cause our depth to take a big hit
Agree... on the Drai/Bouch extensions, I fully expect that first year to be a bit of a write off... playing around on cap friendly looked a bit like this (new salaries and placeholders in ($$$):
Kane McD Hyman
Nuge Drai ($14M) Holloway (2.0M)
(1.5M) Henrique ($3.5) (1.5M)
($850) ($850) ($850)
($850)
Ekholm Bouch ($10M)
Nurse Broberg ($2.5M)
Kulak Desh ($1.7M)
($850)
Skinner
Rodrigue ($1M)
That would bring us in exactly at the cap assuming it goes up a similar amount next year from $88 to $92. More we are golden, less and we are going to have to choose between Drai and Bouch or find an adoptive home for Nurse or more likely Kane.
Overall I think that puts us in pretty decent shape for 2027++, but 2025 and 2026 will be tough... no room for deadline adds. 2026 is extra tough because you are capped out above and then have McD and Skinner coming up the same summer. Not that I love the idea of paying Skinner, but he's cheap and that means we could be in trouble if Rodrigue or Fanti aren't starter material by then.
I think this means that Kane is on borrowed time. We can't really trade him now, but he's going to be tough to keep (and tough to get rid of) as he ages out.