Except trading McD was the correct move for that point in time for a couple of reasons. Let's be real, JBB was.never moving either of Cirelli or Cernak, as one is the team's 2C for the long run, and the other is the best RD they had/have for now. Both were slightly overpaid, but not by as much as Serg. Both also have just as much potential to reach ceilings that make the contracts look even better. Not to mention, these players and their agents realized the cap would be increasing again during this contract, and so neither was going to accept some laughable min raise on a long-term deal.
Cirelli signed his 6.25 extension in the summer of 2022. He had played two seasons on his 4.8 contract and his points per game both years (what gets you the big money in this league) was actually below his 19/20 season were he had .64 (he scored .44 and .56 in 20/21 and 21/22 respectively). To me, that's not screaming future 2C production, regardless of his defensive play. JBB signed him like he's a solid 2C for
8 years based off that? He was RFA, so his agent didn't have all the leverage.
He matched his career 19/20 pgg this year, the first time in 4 seasons and was not impressive in the playoffs with a team worst +/- and 2 points in 5 games. His faceoff % has been subpar for a defensive center for much of his career.
I don't hate Cirelli, I think JBB's decision to sign him to that contract was wrong. It's not a team killing deal on its own, but I think he was wrong on all three of the 8 year contracts - the amount and the length. At the time I was would have thought Cernak was closest to earning that money, but 8 years, as we've seen, can be risky if the player's health starts to become unreliable. And he's looked less rock solid defensively since McD was traded.
We had another option for 2C if he traded Cirelli in Stamkos. That would have free up 4.8 for more modest, not 8 year, contracts for Serge and Cernak, which would free up a little more by not having to overpay them for 8 year deals. Colton could have been our 3C. The lines would have looked something like this at forward:
Hagel - Point - Kucherov
Killorn - Stamkos - Paul (this worked very well while Cirelli was injured for this start of 2022/23)
Names - Colton - ABB
Perry - Belemare - Maroon
And with McD on the 2nd D pairing.
Better defensive depth, worse forward depth, but still two good first lines. And we wouldn't have spent two picks to get McD back, and maybe it would have been possible to keep Serge to take over for Hedman in another couple seasons.
Teams that are focused on trying to win don't trade a player like Stamkos at a trade deadline. JBB clearly wasn't going to send a message that he was giving up on the season by doing so, and again, Stamkos, who had in the past said he wouldn't waive his NMC, was extremely unlikely to do so. It's no big deal that they paid a 3rd round pick for Guentzel's.rights. JBB wasn't going to take any chances this time, and a future 3rd has a minimal chance of ever being anything (especially not for this core).
Yes, but you have to be objective about your team. We're down Palat, Killorn, and our original third line and McD from our cup teams. Vasy flamed out one year entirely and was coming off back surgery this year. He traded picks for rentals in Duclair and Dumba, which did little for us in the postseason.
Yeah, if Stamkos refused to waive, then that's not on JBB. Stamkos may have been more open if JBB was able to say to him, we're not bringing you back next year anyway. I don't think either of us can speak for JBB or Stamkos on how it went.
I love how year after year this forum keeps saying picks have minimal chances of resulting in an NHL player, ignoring those cumulative chances over the years. A third round pick has around a 25% chance of becoming an NHL player - that's not minimal. Picks are somehow near valueless yet other GMs are always willing to give us players for them that we think are going to be valuable? And year after year we're right up against the cap with few players in the farm we can hope will play a significant role.