@Jakey53
I would happily sign Gardiner and ditch Goligoski. I think they’re similar but Goose is half a decade older. Five years to the month. I think the bottom is going to fall off of Goligoski very soon. Sign Gardiner to a 4x4 (if he’s desperate) and avoid the decline. But I don’t know that we have to move Goligoski to add Gardiner.
Every vet D on the team besides OEL is UFA in two seasons. You’re right, that’s two seasons and not right now. So where does he fit? In the top four. Other guys move down the line up or out of the lineup. Likely Oesterle and Lyubushkin. That is until injuries inevitably hit (and they will).
We all know that Goligoski and Demers are never prepared to start the season and treat the summer as a vacation and camp as a joke. Neither gets up to 100% until Thanksgiving. I’d love to have the resources available to scratch them when they play poorly in September and October and November.
Yeah, it’s sucks for Capobianco. But we saw how long it took for Chychrun to get to 100% (he never did) and he’s an absolute mutant freak of nature. Capo is not. Plus, we don’t even know whether he’s an NHL player anyway. He can scratch and claw his way back into the NHL like everyone else.