Quoting: LumberJacques
Or they could be smart and get Scandella for something like a 5th and be done with him next season.
but that doesn't solve the short term issues. They will have multiple defense men they won't be resigning next year. You will be missing Daley, Ericsson, most likely Green but who knows on that one.
Like I said, it's a stop gap. It's not a long term thing. For a team that is rebuilding. It allows those high draft pick defense men that are 18 and 19 time to develop in both their minor leagues and the AHL level at a cheap cost and then poof gone to Seattle.
Mean while Lindström, Cholowski and maybe Kaski (who knows right) get time to develop this year and start plugging holes next year. Either way there isn't that much "youth" there that they have an immediate abundance. That is a myth. If they have injury problems they have one or two guys really capable at that level to step in and even they aren't really ready to be there and it hampers their growth.
It is what it is. The team is rebuilding. Yes it has some youth, but most of it won't be ready for a year or two at least.
That's what makes JJ an option to play stop gap. No one is saying he's a long term answer or needs to be there long term. We all realize he's going to seattle one way or another.
But you look at what is out there in the FA market, it's not great, nor do they probably want to sign an expensive FA knowing how much they sunk into their draft picks.
What they need is to field some bodies and let their people develop. So they get a rugged defense man who lays hits to pick a spot up on the 3rd pair. It gives them a bit of push back for their younger players and doesn't really cost them anything asset wise or cap wise.
I know people on here want to think JJ is unmoveable and every trade with him is a 1st. But that's BS and most reasonable people know that. Hell Detroit almost signed him last year for the very reasons I posted above. They are a team that needs time to develop.