PullHard
☂
- Jul 18, 2007
- 28,421
- 2,514
I don't agree. That team had too many bad contracts to ever justify giving away more assets, if anything I wish we wouldve went with the youth movement sooner. The differecne between 2011 Datsyuk and 2015 Datsyuk isn't as big as people make it, nor Z, they are still very good players, and will be next year. We are in a good spot, even when D and Z retire, I really doubt we wont be competitive. Too much young talent. If anything, the time is now. Are old stars are still good enough to be stars, and our youth are now mature enough to contribute. Additionally, we have a surplus of prospects, some will have to be let go, there is not enough room. If there ever was a time for a trade, it is this season or the next.
The season after Rafalski retired the team had Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, and Kronwall on the roster and rather than make a move Holland sat on nearly $10M of cap space and signed Ian White off the scrap heap. Instead of going for it Holland elected to wait it out, signed stopgaps like Bertuzzi, Cleary, Samuelsson, White, Commodore, Salei, Colaiacovo, etc. rather than make an impactful trade. Why would he go for it now that the team is worse?