Joined: May 2016
Posts: 8,205
Likes: 3,641
I'm meh about the lack of side deals. There took the best guy from most every team. Maybe not the best player available from every team, but adding a bunch of rental or rental + 1 bloated contracts doesn't do them much good either in the long run. Their choices were closer to that of CBJ/MN than what Vegas got to choose from.
Not biting on the bait (Price, Tank, etc) other GMs left out there is a smart thing. Sure the team could have looked better on paper, but it also would have added $20m in cap to players that were going to bolt in a year or two as UFAs, or be too old to bother with. It keeps the other teams in their cap hell, while having plenty of room to do what they want in free agency.
They are set to be a big boy hockey team that grinds others to dust next year. It should work enough in the Pacific to get them into the Playoffs next year as the 3rd seed.