Dabura

Insane is probably a massive understatement, tbh. But the one that really hurts - because we passed on the player - is Hughes-Seider. I hate that I was so wrong about Zadina. What a waste of a pick. The good news, of course, is that Edvinsson-Seider's gonna bully the bejesus out of this league for the next 10+ years.

My whole thing this offseason is gonna be goal scoring. Nosek scored 7 goals this season. Motte scored 8 goals this season. Suter scored 14 goals this season. Science.

He was pretty good for us this season. His 14 goals was only 3 fewer than Raymond's 17. I think I'd prefer Barbashev, but I've got lots of time for any 4th liner who can pot 15 goals.

The Panthers kinda remind me of the '97 Wings. Had a phenomenal regular season but got pantsed in the playoffs. Decided they needed an edge, brought in a premier power forward.

Neither one really interests me. I'm talking about trade targets, e.g. DeBrincat, Connor, Bratt, Meier. Why not bring back Suter?

That's definitely the plan. And, on the whole, I support it. But I think we can have our cake and eat it too; bringing in a high-end scorer doesn't mean saying goodbye to the rebuild.

To be clear: I'm not saying we should go all in and pretend like the rebuild's over. I'm saying if we're trying to improve and be a competitive team that can maybe steal a playoff spot, then we should be serious about that. If we can get DeBrincat for cheapish, that'd be my preference. But I'm ok with paying a decent price for a high-end player if there's no cheap high-end option. Because I feel the scoring problem is bad enough that internal growth + UFA plug-ins isn't going to make much of a dent in it - at least not for the next couple years. The cool thing is that we can have it both ways: we can go out and spend some assets and get a high-end guy, and we'll still have young players that will continue to grow and improve.

I agree that that's SY's preferred approach; he doesn't wanna go HAM on a playoff push until the homegrown youth proves it's ready for prime time. Which means this is basically a waiting game. Which is ok. But I think we have to be realistic about how long it could - and probably would - take for that to play out without any outside help of the high-end variety. We can rattle off names of promising young players in our system, but the Joneses - Ottawa and Montreal - can do the same thing. And they've knocked some of their recent picks out of the park just like we have. I'm not saying I don't believe in our youth. I do. And I'm not saying we should abandon the long-term plan for short-term satisfaction. We shouldn't. I just think that at this stage of the rebuild, we shouldn't be content to sit back and let the future come to us whenever it decides it's ready. If we're assuming Larkin's good for 80 points next season, and if we're thinking Raymond could take the next step, and if we're thinking we're gonna have some pretty good young depth...then I say we should bank on all of that. Have three 30-goal scorers on our top line in [Outside Help]-Larkin-Raymond. Have them play tough minutes while Kasper cuts his teeth as a middle-6 centerman. Don't go into next season saying "Well, ya know, it's a real tough league, and-ah, well, ya know, eh, well, the organ-I-zation, and, ya know, it's a real tough league and certainly, certainly what we'd like, well-ah, ya know, we had kicked the tires on Matthew Tkachuk a few years ago, and, well, ya know, we're-ah, we're not really in a position, we feel, to-ah, well, ya know, it'll take as long as it takes, and-ah, ya know, we think Amadeus has the potential to be a real good player for us in 15 years, and-ah." Go into next season like we both intend and expect to kick the league square in the balls. Make a splash. Try to give this team the scoring teeth it's lacked for the past decade and let's see what the team can do. I don't even think the D group needs a huge addition, tbh. I think Walman-Seider / Edvinsson-Gudas could be playoff-caliber - provided we're not counting on that four to be otherworldly because we have no scoring depth at forward. Keep our eyes on the future - but refuse to take any more s*** in the present.

The Athletic is staffed by assholes, but I like it when they agree with me: https://archive.is/3zEs6

I mean, there's no way we're solving all of our problems this summer, obviously. But I feel that adding a first-line scoring winger is something we need to do in the here and now. We can maybe address it next summer too - but we also need to be addressing it right now. Because, as things currently stand, we have paper-thin scoring depth at forward. Not even a legitimate top line. If we're thinking playoffs next season, that has to change - in a big way.

All I know is SY needs to add a legit first-line scoring winger this summer, because we can't go into next season with Perron/Kubalik/Rasmussen-Larkin-Raymond. If it's DeBrincat, cool. If it's Bratt, cool. If it's Meier, cool. If it's Connor, cool. Just get it done.

We're one spot behind them tho. Trading up/down is only really a thing if there's separation.

He's gonna have the body of a 50-year-old when he's 30.

I'm not necessarily opposed to trading a prime 1st for a guy who's closer to 30 than 20, provided it's someone with an excellent body of work and no durability issues (e.g. Kyle Connor). Because while it's true that our fortunes are now tied to Seider, Raymond, et al., we have a definite need for at least one additional high-end "veteran" leader like Larkin, especially with Bertuzzi now gone.

He's an absolute turd biscuit, but I'd love him as a Wing lmao

Sign Radko Gudas.

No I agree. I'm all for it. I just wonder whether SY will do it, given the track record (or lack thereof). Weren't there whispers about us looking at Meier in the lead-up to the trade deadline? He's been a ghost in the playoffs. Maybe NJ and other teams decide he isn't worth what they'd thought he was worth a couple months ago? He's gonna be 27 in October, which maybe isn't absolutely perfect for our timeline, but I feel like a top line of Meier-Larkin-Raymond could be pretty nasty.

I dunno, I feel like we talk about poaching cap-strapped teams every year and it never really happens. I almost wanna say GMs have some kind of agreement with SY such that he's only allowed to try his hand at victimizing them if they're not in a clear position of weakness.

I don't necessarily buy that it's rigged, but I also don't think it's crazy to acknowledge that there's a fundamental human truth behind the Ring of Gyges principle. "But why do it? What's in it for the league? It'd make sense if they rewarded a perpetually struggling franchise like the Coyotes, but they're not doing that. So what are they doing, then?" Well, I suppose the argument is that making sure the solid markets stay solid gives the league a stable foundation to work with; if your solid markets are going to continue to rake in money, then you've got a financial safety net which will offset any potential losses. And that allows you to "grow the game." Just for s***s and giggles (again, I'm not really arguing for either side here), here are the past ten winners: 2013 Colorado 2014 Florida 2015 Edmonton 2016 Toronto 2017 New Jersey 2018 Buffalo 2019 New Jersey 2020 New York Rangers 2021 Buffalo 2022 Montreal 2023 Chicago Make of that what you will.

This fills me with feelings, some good and some bad: https://archive.is/g6Ofb

The other Official 2019 Offseason Rebuild Thread has run its course; consider this a continuation/reboot/reset/restart/rebuild/retool. (How very meta.)

I think my current 1-2-3 is Dvorsky, Moore, Reinbacher. I like that we're all kinda on roughly the same page.

Yep, I agree with pretty much all of this. Of the realistic options at 9, Dvorsky's probably my top preference. It's crazy to me that people are sleeping so hard on the angle you're hammering, which is that this is a very young kid who's played up in Sweden. And, as you pointed out, he's also absolutely crushed his same-age peers - despite being younger than most of them. 10 goals and 21 points in 10 games against juniors this season. That's wild. My only concern - if you can even call it a concern - is the skating. But I reckon that's at least partly a physical maturity thing. Every facet of his game's going to improve as he matures.

And Old Man Walman's dancing on the roof of the car.