Good Thread, Chevy has a lot of work to do this summer. We've got a team that can compete, and our window is now. Also, he has a tonne of contracts up, and rising salaries are going to cause him to make some hard decisions.
Where I see the big challenge is, how good is Chevy able to keep the current team strong right now to compete for a cup, WHILE hopefully not only not sacrificing the future, but hopefully adding some very young pieces to become future plus contributors on ELC's.
We've had the great fortune to not only have players like Trouba and Scheifele play well above their contracts as RFA/UFA players, but we've had an embarrassment of value in our ELC deals (Morrissey, Laine, Ehlers, Connor). Trouba, and most of those other 4 will be making well over their current contracts soon. Besides Roslo (who has 2 years of ELC left), we really only have Vesa as a possible elite young guy who can come in and play well above ELC value on his ELC. Guys like Appleton, Niku, Lemieux will make the jump soon, but I don't see them in the tier of of previous ELC guys who vastly outplayed their ELC's.
So I will be interested to see if Chevy can keep the team strong in the present, but possibly make a move or two to keep the talent coming in. Because in the future when Wheeler, Buff, Little, Perreault, etc are gone, the new old guard is Scheifele, Trouba, etc. I'd hope that when those guys are in their late 20's that we have guys outperforming their ELC's to help them just like they did when they were on their ELC's.