Let's say, for the sake of argument, that Bergevin gets his things in order and he finally gets us that big centerman that we've always wanted. His name is Ryan O'Reilly, and we had to trade our first, and Poehling for him. And then Bergevin goes out and he signs Stastny.
Where do you think this gets us? If you would like him to do such a thing, tell us why. Let's have a conversation.
Not far (1st round exit maybe 2nd round) and this would be terrible. ROR is not worth a top 5 pick and a good prospect on top of it.
The center line would still be average. Better but not strong. Buffalo is losing with ROR and Eichel ... We would still be missing a LHD. And this is if Mete blossom into a top 4 if not then we are missing two. It would still be an aging team with a very short window. Without the first pick and with Poehling traded our prospects pool would be abyssal and by far the worst in the whole league. So no help would be coming from that pool in the next 5 years (outside of maybe one 2nd pairing dman). With an aging team this would be a bad combo.
Two things could kick start this team this summer :
1) Drafting first overall. Dahlin would more than likely solve the problems we have with this defense. He would make a good first pairing with Weber for the next 3-4 years and Mete would be fine with Petry. Then when Weber would get old Dahlin would be ready to carry the likes of Juulsen, Fleury or Brooks on a first pairing and Mete would make a fine 2nd pairing with Weber. There's the possibility Dahlin will flop but this is unlikely to happen.
2) Signing Tavares. Tavares is not the be all end all guy. He's no Crosby or McJesus. But he's a damn good 1st line center who carried to stardom some pretty *** average wingers over his career. He'll be overpaid but if you want to win you got to be ready to overpay your star players and cut the corners with 1 million guys like Byron, Hudon and Lehkonen in your bottom 6. That's how it is with a salary cap. Tavares will only be 28 next season so he got some years left. I would say at least 5-6 years very easily and probably more if you are not unlucky. He is imo a step better than ROR without any doubt and ROR is overpaid himself anyway.
Then the defense would be set for many years unless Dahlin would flop. We got good young wingers like Drouin, AG and Gallagher. We would still be missing a 2nd line center but Poehling could develop into one and we got lot of 2nd rounders and Patch available this summer to make something happens.
Outside of those two things happening we should rebuild and not try to fix things up with a plan B. You don't trade a top 5 pick for a plan B.