I strongly supported Jarmo’s “let’s go for it”. I was bitterly disappointed by his failure to make any significant effort to reload after they all left. And his “we want guys who want to be here” chant is an acknowledgment that we will be the home for players who are “hard to plat against” rather than players who have plus offensive skills. I do not see Jarmo making any real effort to bring in high end offensive talent. He will fill the lineup with Boone Jenner types who are “hard to play against” and continue to puff the marginal offensive skills of players he draft with Wennberg being Exhibit A.
Wait, you were bitterly disappointed Jarmo couldn't replace one of the best wingers in the NHL, a top 6/first line center, and a Vezina winning goalie all in the same offseason? My god, talk about unrealistic goals.
Jarmo sang the praises of Korpi and Elvis before anyone else knew what they would be like as co-starters. So he replaced Bob from within, that's pretty successful for one offseason in by itself. There was no replacing Panarin, but Nyquist proved to be a quality pick up to strengthen our forward core. He's not moving any needles by himself,but he's a quality top 6 forward.
Jarmo made no effort to bring in high end offensive talent? He literally BROUGHT Panarin here. He brought Dubois here. Werenski, Jones, Texier, Bjorkstrand? Brought in here by him. Brandon Saad back in the day (A very quality top line-ish player, who was then flipped for an even better player) Jarmo. If he didn't make more moves last offseason, maybe it wasn't possible without spending an arm and a leg because the other GMs knew he would be desperate for top talent?
Who has Jarmo brought in ever that was a "Boone Jenner" type player? Gregory Campbell? Are we really going to count Adam McQuaid? I don't.
If there is one spot to pick at Jarmo about it would be his drafting, however for as much shit as Wennberg gets around here, he's still a valuable pick considering his draft class. Look around the other picks after him in that draft (in the first round because we have to be reasonable), there's like 2-3 guys you'd rather have other than him (Pulock, Mantha,Theodore).
Expecting Jarmo to replace Panarin, Duchene, and Bob level production in one offseason is an impossible task. Replacing Bob by himself means it was a successful offseason. Now we work on the #2 center, and the top end talent.