How would it have done the exact same thing? We got embarassed WITH them, we needed to add to them. The rest of your post is just simply false. We set the money aside to sign them, but we didn't. Which is why we've had ample cap space for how many years now? Drouin came off a very good playoff run and great year with Tampa before the trade. Our issue was lack of offensive talent. The whole forward group sucked. We needed talent up front. Would have preferred a center for sure, but an offensively talented winger would have been incredibly helpful too. Drouin put up 53 points in 73 games at 21, stop pretending like you knew the whole time that he would have regressed when all he did was improve up to that point. Don't think many expected PPG seasons, but many expected more than 50ish points. There's a range between a PPG player and a 50 point player you know.