FAs almost always drain resources, b/c the top ones are paid for past, not future, production.
So JG will get paid as if 115 points is his norm, not a career outlier.
When he regresses to his norm, and then start to decline after 30, his salary will exceed his value.
This is why you should use FA only for veterans whose value to the team exceeds their "raw" value, i.e. the missing piece to a young team with cap room b/c they have a lot of players on ELCs and bridge RFA deals, and a veteran can put them over the top.
Trying to build a team with FAs is a fool's errand, b/c they'll eat your cap, make it hard to extend your young players, and saddle you with declining production in their out years.
The worst move they can make this summer is to waste assets creating cap room to bring in older FAs, no FA can make them a Cup contender, but this will ensure they're worse in 2-3 years. This isn't a team that you gamble on a short term push.
It wasn't necessarily the wrong strategy in the summer of 2019, b/c they were facing a limited shelf life with Giroux and Voracek, either go for it or blow it up - so they went for it and it might have worked if not for COVID. But like the Pronger move, once things don't work out, you have to accept it and move on - Holmgren almost did with the Richards/Carter trades - then blew the opportunity for a quick rebuild. Same in 2021, they doubled down on AV instead of moving forward.
Doubling down on Torts makes no sense, he has a strong track record of developing young players, let him build a team from ground up and in 2-3 years and a couple more high picks you may have a team that can make a real push.
