Is anybody else concerned with the chunk a handful of darts at the board and hope a few of them stick approach the Borg is using?
We've a hyped them up as this super brain trust of elite hockey minds and it's looking more and more like J.R. is back running the show with just more money?
Am I the only one concerned about all the short term deals and UFA contracts we seem to like to take on? Instead of having a galaxy brain calculated plan it seems more like the FO is throwing short term deals around hoping to catch a hot streak and make a run at it? If it doesn't work out (it probably won't) no biggie cause its all short term commitments.
This team doesn't seem like much of a team when you're turning 30-40% of your roster every off-season. Teams that get labeled true contenders typically don't do that do they? Seems that outside of moving out a few contracts to clean up some cap space, maybe bring in a player or two, or have an internal promotion, teams like TB, LV, COL aren't flipping 25%+ of their roster every off-season.
We don't really have a core because in the grand scheme of things we don't have any players locked into long-term deals.
Concerned with the drafting strategy? not yet. The Canes understand that top 6 forwards / top 4 defenders are the hardest to get in the league. They are super expensive to trade for or sign at UFA. Their draft strategy is draft the player in the round they feel has the highest chance of becoming a top 6 or top 4. Typically in rounds 2-7 that means the player has glaring weaknesses. Generally size, 2 way responsible play, etc. The team can teach two way play with slow cooking in Chicago. Its harder to teach scoring instinct and prowess. Francis was the opposite (at least in my opinion). he drafted the guy most likely to make the league using size and hockey IQ as the measuring stick. That is why our rounds 2-7 NHL games played number is so high. Most of those guys are replacement level players. Aho being the exception. Slavin and Pesce were JR draftees in case anyone wanted to jump on me there. Of course the strategy could crash and burn if none of the players past round 1 develop into NHL level players. It could pay off really well too.
Short term contracts: no its a good play. 1. we have zero idea how the cap will behave over the next 3 years. 2. We have some guys we actually want to keep around for many years coming up for re-signings. Svech and probably Svech again in 2-3 years, Necas next year, Tro (probably as we dont have a 2C waiting), Aho, Turbo, and Pesce. If we can keep the replaceable players on short term contracts it allows for more cap flexibility when we have to sign a guy we want to keep. Obviously we have some lumps with that, roster turnover is one of them. Also, we coming into a point where we have 2-3 NHL ready prospects chomping to make the roster. So, shorter bottom 6 and bottom pair contracts means we can fit them into the roster easier.
Our core is: Aho, Turbo, Slavin, Pesce, Svech, Necas, Staal and Skjei. That is who everyone else will gravitate around and how contracts will be structured to support keeping them on the roster.