man are expectations ever low

Let's call this summer "The Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish"

Easy decline for Caps. They save only half a million this year and are stuck with Armia's contract for another year, while they downgrade on the wing and get a G they don't need.

I almost posted your entire description verbatim as a comment in the Petry to Detroit trade thread. lol

Great minds think a like.

Hughes is great overall
But i dont trust him with a 1 round pick
Slafkovsky i love but as #1 OA? even if we traded down to 2nd for a small return , we've gotten good value in the later rounds since Eric Crawford was hired in 2017-18 season.
Reinbacher same thing, if you trade down i think fans feel less robbed passing on better talent.

I mean we passed on 2 Elite Level Superstars for an All Star level class that might become workhorses.
All this relies on these 2 kids being Mature enough not to break here like Kotkanemi and Galchenyuk did.

Its hard to justify unless he lands a player like Lafreniere to make up for it.
Even though i consider AL kind of a let down he's french enough for fans to pretend he's better then he is here.
It'll distract people and when they have to face it they can say we passed on him to get Size and Elite Skill in AL and its Justified.

I dont even want AL here , i want Mcbain like Hughes did but fans wouldnt care as much or give him a pass as easy

Well, we are in the process of rebuilding - we are getting prospects, picks and getting rid of bad vets. My expectation are turned towards the dev of our young players AKA

if Suzuki hits 70 pts,
CC scores 40+ goals - hell even 50.
Dach and Newhook break 55 pts.
Slaf gets near 20 goals or 40 pts.
Ghules keeps improving.
etc...

Then looking at Laval if the players are winning and contributing.

Fair enough, I just made a quick trade where i got rid of Armia

My feeling with the habs draft strategy is that they are not looking for the 100pts finest player which will eventually cost 13M$ AAV. With players like that, you get the Oilers who have two superstars... and no team.

When your top line is toped at 7,85M - you get to fill the 3 other lines with quality.

Yes you can have two players getting 60 goals each OR 6-8 players getting 20+ each OR 4-6 players getting 30+ each... which in some way, is harder to counter. Especially when those Superstars can always be signed through UFA... and are easier to attract when you have a great foundation (aka NYR with Panarin).

I agree that for fans, it's fun to have a Mcdavid, Mackinnon that break everything...

Lets say thats true, Trade down
No excuse to knowingly choose the lesser player especially after saying you were taking Best Player Available
Only time its felt like Hughes lied to us.

But i can get behind that idea of building a Vegas Golden Knights build then use left over assets to acquire top guys who fit later on.
That said VGK didnt pass on value every to do it, they got paid for their build as MTL should.

For us its better to have a Generational Goal Scorer who is 3rd behind Ovechkin and Caufield in his 1 Outing in International IIHF play with 12 goals in 7 games.
Head to Head vs Bedard who's 5 months younger , he destroyed him and then some in play against his peers.
Is he a dick? Well yeah but he's playing for Sergei Federov he'll round out the rough edges, its why he's undefeated in KHL Playoffs as back to back Gagarin Cup Winner.
He will straighten him out or bury him in no mans land for another year like he did to the kid last year.
This year he came back ready to work and shut up and already has a Hat Trick
Most important when he comes over from Russia we'll have 3 years of ELC pricing

Oh you are preaching to the choir... We just got to live with the pick.

Agreed
Ill back the kid
But this pick will haunt Hughes long after he's gone IMO
Its his version of Tkachuk over Kotkanemi

iT tAkEs A 1St tO mOvE hOfFmAn

Easily would have been laughed off here. Getting anything at all for him and Pitlick is a miracle but a 2nd and 4th. Chef's kiss.

Hughes isnt making the decisions for the draft picks. Yes he has final say and can give an input since hes the one building a culture but the scouts like Bobrov, Lapointe and co. are the ones making pitch for certain too prospects and the scouting staff decides as a whole after.