Joined: May 2019
Posts: 1,304
Likes: 538
I'm all for upgrading our top 9, but I think the Dcore is fine as it is.
Lightning are not giving the opponent many quality chances, below average G has been screwing us over and over again this season.
For the top 9, if I were the GM I'd wouldn't use our 2020 1st rounder or VAN's 1st rounder as return. Those 2 picks could become very valuable:
1) This year's draft seems to be great with a 1st round full of talent. Having 2 first rounders would be huge, as what's missing in our prospect system is one or two ELITE prospects.
2) If things go south for VAN and they miss the playoffs, which could happen, their 2020 1st rounder would become a 2021 UNPROTECTED 1st rounder. And it's not impossible that VAN could end up missing the playoffs 2 years in a row, especially in a division that is trending up. So the chance of getting a top 10 pick in 2021 is there, I definitely wouldn't pass on that possibility.
If necessary we can use one/two of Verhaeghe, Volkov, Joseph or Katchuk + 2nd or 3rd rounders to improve our 3rd line.
But who do we take? Yzerman's mentality was always to get a player only if he still has some contract left, in order no to waste some future for a simple rental. And JBB seems to be following that idea too.
Also because you don't have to forget that Cirelli, Sergy and Cernak will take away most of our cap space this offseason, so you can't make many moves.
Eventually what I could see us doing is getting a player with some term left on his contract at the deadline and then trading him away during offseason