This could go on so many threads around here, but I guess this is the most appropriate one. The amount of doom and gloom about the window shutting, how it's just mediocrity from now on forward... Give your head a shake. We lost against the best team in the West. And damn near took it to G7. Without our best playoff performer. The margins in the NHL are extremely thin. There might be years when your team is 10% stronger than the other year, 10% weaker than the other year. But even the team that is supposedly weaker can go all the way if the stars align. This is the most unpredictable league there is. Before the year, you can probably name around 10 contenders, yet still usually there is at least one surprise team in the conference finals. I'm looking at Vancouver here. The "cup window" isn't something that just opens up once and then shuts down after a certain time. It constantly flashes open and closes depending on the year. Dallas has never done a full rebuild, just worked around the edges and have had some luck with their picks. Many said they were done a few years ago, and here we are. Florida, a lot of people thought they were never going anywhere with Barkov. Well, they did do some major re-tooling in acquiring Tkachuck and hired Maurice, now they seem to be heading for their 2nd cup final in a row after bowing out multiple times in the 1st round. New York? A lot of people said last year was the best chance they had, and things have just continued to improve for them. Look at their roster, they have good pieces and probably the best goalie in the world. But it's not some super team.
What I'm getting at, is that as long as you can build around MacKinnon and Makar, you have an extremely solid foundation. The best D-man in the world and the 2nd best center in the world is a damn good place to start, and saying you don't have a window with those two is ludicrous. This offseason will be hard, but even if the team takes a step back in paper for next year, that doesn't mean that our "window" is somehow shut. Who knows, maybe trying a different look will actually work better.
Still too early to really say what they should do. Some quick thoughts:
- Georgiev deserves his final year, he was solid apart from G1 against WPG.
- Keep Drouin, sign him to another short term deal with low cap hit. That's probably the best option for him too.
- Jack Johnson is fine as a #6 if he's willing to stay for a league minimum.
- The rest of the "established" bottom sixers can go. LOC and some kids, can't afford much more. Bye Cogs, bye Trenin, bye Duhaime.
- You can explore a Rantanen trade, but not that optimistic about the return. It's would be mostly for capspace. And if Rantanen is willing to sign for less than 12mil, you take it.
- Nuke needs to be gone, his full cap hit. Not expecting this to be resolved immediately, but there will be teams interested. Next strike, he's out of the league. He's not that big of a risk contract wise.
- Explore a Ross Colton trade, just for capspace.
Buckle up boys, interesting times ahead! It sucks to lose again, but don't act like the sky is coming down. It's not. We will get another chance to compete for the Cup.
