You assume entirely too much. You realize that its March 1st?
You assume that Lovejoy will still be our #2. The chance of that is there, but there's so much that has yet to happen.
You also assume that DSP will be here. Is it a stretch that he gets taken in the ED? Is it a stretch that he is still here but we get a player to play above him? If DSP is on the 4th line, thats hardly anything to get worked up over. He can be effective if hes in the right role. Josefson is a player we probably need to move on just because he can't stay healthy, but he's also cheap and he has shown the ability to be effective. I'd not be disappointed if he's brought back.
There was only so much Shero could do this trade deadline. We didn't have valuable expendable assets. There's still a helluva lot that is happening. This year is a real crapshoot because of the expansion draft. It changes plans and alters business. Our cap space is no joke. There are more opportunities to get players for immediate improvement in the very near future. Many thought we were going to be a potential playoff team this year, it's not happened, but we're not far removed from that analysis with a few moves that are within reach, but we're not in the time period that gives us the best option for that yet.
I do agree that if we're still stagnating a year from now, then maybe Shero deserves to start to feel some heat and have his moves questioned to the Nth degree. Last year was an aberration because so much of what he did worked out. That was never going to happen with every move. We are still in a position to attract UFAs b/c of the financial position we're in, we're likely going to draft a very capable player and if we are in a position to pick in the top 3, that means a guy who could be here immediately and have an impact. This year the emergence of Miles Wood and Jon Merrill seemingly turning a corner CANNOT be discounted moving forward. The expansion draft will open opportunities to poach players cap strapped teams can't afford. There is a lot of options moving forward. Lou left us in a position that was NEVER going to be easy or a quick fix.
If Lovejoy isn't our #2 or #3 next year, it means we probably made a splash for a defenseman somehow. Maybe by the end of the year next season, Santini can overthrow him from that spot. Severson probably already should have and did for a while.
As far as DSP and the expansion draft goes, first of all, what is the order of teams getting plucked in the expansion draft? I don't remember what happened back in 2000, the last time we had one of these. It seems logically that they would pick from the better teams first and get their crack at the lousier teams afterwards, which we would be one of the last teams to pick from if that is indeed the case. Seems like it would be the reverse order of the entry draft. Do I think they'll take DSP? Probably not, but it all depends on who else we make available and what they already have by the time they get to us.
I think we need to move on from Josefson because just like I've been saying for a little over a year now, he's proven he's not a 3rd line center, nor a 3rd line anything. He continues to produce at a 20-ish point per 82 game basis. Both last year and this year. He's just doing it more with even strength points this year, whereas he did it more with PP points last year. And I've never thought he could be a 3rd liner, but it was worth giving him a shot at it under Hynes and Shero, as Pete didn't exactly like him very much. We have years and years and years and years worth of evidence that he's a 20 point per 82 game player at the very best. And that's not good enough for a top 9 player in this league. He was a regular healthy scratch early on, then he came back in and scored some points, had a nice stretch, one of the best in his career. Then he came right back to where he normally is.
As far as the deadline went, I have no issues. I would have rather have not taken back another question mark NHL defenseman for Quincey, but it's no big deal if we can purge one of them in the expansion draft.
I'm not sure if Merrill has turned the corner. He's been good this season, but he was pretty poor for the two prior years. I think we need to see another good season next year for me to really believe he's turned a corner. In the role he's been used in though, he certainly isn't hurting us one bit and I'm not sure if he's ever been as bad as Moore, outside of Moore being able to score some goals/points more than him. Which are negated by poor defense almost immediately.