Should we & is it? I’m far from convinced that Joe wouldn’t be content picking 5th, signing a lower level 2nd line winger in FA, and letting Frank n Groo fight it out for the goalie gig; while banking on Makar / Meloche / Timmins to bolster our blueline & Kaut / Bowers / Shvyryov / Lewis the forward core. That sounds much more like his MO than making an aggressive move that solved a hole for the longterm, so what makes it obvious that Sakic will suddenly act out of character this summer?
That sounds like little more than wishful thinking given the rate at which Sakic makes trades come together...as does your analysis of MacK’s psychological makeup. I don’t see what about him or what he has said would lead any of us to believe that he would be content to re-sign with a team that failed to put a contender around him when he was giving them a 50% discount. Given which, 3 years from now Sakic had better already be working on a MacK trade for the following summer if we’re still “slowly address(ing) the finishing touches” with nothing to show for it then...lest we enter his final season under contract, without a commitment from him or the trade boon that he could still return at that point.
CGF, I get the concern, but your whole premise is based around "a team that failed to put a contender around him" as you put it. That's not a strict definition. It's somewhat subjective and there's simply no way of knowing what will happen in the next five years.
All the evidence says they're trending upwards, that they have some help in the system on the way, and will very likely get more help this off season through the draft, UFA, and possibly trade.
Who are all these star players that have walked as UFAs because they didn't win anyway?
Stamkos? Joe Thornton? Blake Wheeler? Lundqvist? Brent Burns? They've all re-signed when they could have left as UFA's. Even EK probably would have stayed with Ottawa if his owner wasn't crazy, and he didn't have that drama with Hoffman.
Even lesser players like OEL, Couture, Vlassic, Shane Doan, and Giordano. They've all resigned instead of hitting UFA.
The only star player of Nate's caliber to leave recently is Tavares, and that was an entirely different situation. Toronto was his hometown team, they offered him a boatload of money, and the Islanders are clown show that keeps relocating.
The Isles missed the playoffs 17 times out of the last 23 seasons. They’ve made it past the first round once in the last 24 years, and they only won one game.
If the Avs keep missing the playoffs, or losing badly in the first round, then it’s a concern, but how can we make any sort of educated guess on whether they’ll miss the playoffs or make it to the Western finals the next five years? We simply can’t, so why should we be so afraid of something like that?
The main reason star players leave as UFA's is either money, the team is rebuilding, or to play for a hometown team. Nate doesn't have a hometown team in the NHL, and at the draft his Uncle said as a kid he wanted to play with Sakic on the Avs.
If they pay Nate what he's worth, and they're a competitive team, he has every reason in the world to re-sign. Competitiveness can change on a dime in this new NHL, and Nate saw first hand how playing a grass is greener game can backfire with Duchene.
