JTBF81
Registered User
If you don't think this team is still contending/contenders, then yeah, we have nothing further to discuss. Teams in their windows shouldn't prioritize lottery tickets that may pan out 3 or 4 years down the road at the expense of getting g upgrades now imo. Neither of the last two 1st round exits indicates that this team is done either in my view. They outplayed the Leafs in several areas and lost because Vasy played likely the worst 6 games of his career. They had been ayi g better down the stretch this past season, but a combination of the defense still having issues, some of the top F's.having a bad series, and facing the best team in the league in rd 1 was too much to overcome. The core is still strong, the defense is improved, and Vasy will hopefully start the year healthy, rested, and back to top 5 form. Some of the F depth is still questionable, but overall, this team has the tools to make another run with this group.With your philosophy, JBB should trade almost all the remaining picks for 2025 and 2026. We've got a 4th, 5th, 6th and four 7ths for this year he could trade to make this "win now" roster even better. Why is JBB hanging on to them? Maybe he doesn't know, in your assessment, these yet-to-be-named players aren't going to be a factor. The recent cup winning GMs in Florida and Colorado don't know any better either as they're stuck with a number of these inconsequential mid to late round draft picks this year. Maybe you can't even give them away? Though it does make me wonder how or why JBB managed to accumulate three additional 7th rounders for this year alone.
In addition to the value of draft picks to the team in its current state, our disagreement revolves around you being in whole hog with JBB that we are still contenders, and I'm much less so. I'd say the last two seasons support my position more than yours. Regardless, I'll be watching this year hoping to be wonderfully surprised and seeing a deep cup run, I just won't bet any money on it.