Langway
In den Wolken
- Jul 7, 2006
- 32,481
- 9,194
I certainly wouldn't build the team as though making the playoffs is a foregone conclusion, though. They've got to make the playoffs before they can grind their way through them. Scoring depth is a key part of being a comfortable playoff team. As-is it's hard not to see that coming further down to the pack in goal differential (and it wasn't exactly stellar the past two seasons with strong scoring depth). The issue is less Hagelin in isolation but what it means consequently with the space they have left over. If the cap is only $82M then after Vrana they could only have ~$5.7M to spend on three forwards and a depth D.
Prioritizing Hagelin and getting him done since he was open to it was understandable but it may have real consequences. They may luck out and find someone willing to take a steep discount to win but the options seem limited and I wouldn't assume they'll easily have enough scoring depth against younger and arguably hungrier teams. Maybe MacLellan will have a trick up his sleeve, maybe not. I wouldn't assume he does because there are X factors they can only roughly estimate at the moment. Locking Hagelin in gives them some defensive/PK stability but...he is a winger. A winger doesn't seem likely to heavily compensate for not having an adequate 2RD if no one steps up. They've been a resourceful team so they may sort it out but it would be dangerous IMO to lean on the core group to carry them again. They're going to need balance and stronger underlying play to sustain it, even with more juice next season.
Prioritizing Hagelin and getting him done since he was open to it was understandable but it may have real consequences. They may luck out and find someone willing to take a steep discount to win but the options seem limited and I wouldn't assume they'll easily have enough scoring depth against younger and arguably hungrier teams. Maybe MacLellan will have a trick up his sleeve, maybe not. I wouldn't assume he does because there are X factors they can only roughly estimate at the moment. Locking Hagelin in gives them some defensive/PK stability but...he is a winger. A winger doesn't seem likely to heavily compensate for not having an adequate 2RD if no one steps up. They've been a resourceful team so they may sort it out but it would be dangerous IMO to lean on the core group to carry them again. They're going to need balance and stronger underlying play to sustain it, even with more juice next season.
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