Quoting: jnowariak
Or perhaps keeping a strong core is key to showing KK and Fiala that you’re serious about winning in the future. They weakened the positions that could be weakened due to ending contracts or expectations of future high end players, i.e. the top 6.
Predicting the future is a crap shoot but this team is going to be a playoff team next year and will win a round of the playoffs the year after. If you don’t see it fine, but getting rid of the long term strength of the organization (Brodin/Suter/Spurgeon) is not the way to make it better.
With what are they going to make the Playoffs next year? Suter, Spurgeon, and Parise are not a strong core. These are the "leaders" of the team. They have 1 non-4th line center in JEE. Without a major overhaul they can't compete with STL, DAL, and COL for the Playoffs.
I don't see Boldy, Rossi, Beckman, and Addison all coming in and "fixing" this team next year. Half their cap is tied up in 6 players (5 have full NMCs that don't end anytime soon). 3 guys will need big raises this offseason.
This was the year to go for it; while JEE, Kaprizov and Fiala were all cheap. The had the d-corps, they had the wings, and they had cap space, all they needed was a decent goalie, and a center. They traded away the wing depth and the a couple of centers. But at least they got a goalie, right?
I just see the CHI downward spiral in the years ahead for MN. Overpaid, never-ending contracts that they can't get rid of drag the team down.