I posted this on the main trade board isles rebuild thread, but what about a good old fashioned hockey trade:
To NYI
Nik Ehlers
To WPG
Native Son Ryan Pulock
Ehlers' historical playoff stats scare me but a Barzal-Horvat-Ehlers line excites my loins.
In the end, you get the same problem. This will give you fancy regular season stats and excitement. In the postseason, this is an easy line to defend against.
They get broken up and you still have the same problem.
The problem only changes in three ways: 1, add 3 more talented players up front to offset any line changes, 2, the player changes his game to go to the net more, shoot more, steps up in big games, and reduce ‘every knows he’s gonna pass’ mentality, or 3, make the trade to adjust the forward mix and utilize the salary to better conforming players.
It’s on the player to make the adjustment for the betterment of the team, if he drives to the net, shoots more, scores more it totally changes the ‘how’ to defend against him. Now, it’s not so hard to do so. You play the pass all day long, you’ll get burned at times bc he’s talented, but you know he’s not driving to the net and not shooting.