Garbageyuk
Registered User
- Dec 19, 2016
- 6,282
- 6,090
I’m fine with the Laine move. We had the cap space, and it’s only 2 years. Not a concern, and there’s significant upside there.The biggest concern i had this season was Dach not having talent to play with, impacting his development. This is a crucial point in Dach's development where he needs to step into a top-6 role. Having top-line talent in Laine (assuming he and Laine are healthy) will accelerate Dach's development.
This was a good developmental move IMO. Buys time for Demidov.
It’s when the team starts to get competitive (making the playoffs) is when things start to get tricky, and it starts to become like navigating a minefield as far as trades and signings go.
GMs get overzealous and make a crucial mistake at the wrong time thinking it’s going to put them over the top. Sometimes it’s even signing your own homegrown player to a bad deal (e.g. the Oilers and Nurse), and there goes the rebuild. Such is life with the cap.
Thankfully, Hughes has already laid a lot of the groundwork with getting young core pieces locked up on great long term deals (Suzuki, Caufield, Guhle, Slafkovsky).
But the hard part is still yet to come. How he deals with managing the cap and roster when guys like Reinbacher, Demidov, Hutson, Mailloux are coming off their ELCs and needing new deals is going to be crucial.
One bad major signing in this next phase could really wreck everything, and that’s when it usually happens.