And he'll be 27 next year, which is what I was referring to. I figured the Avs would want someone much close to MacKinnon's age.
Despite what many people here seem to believe, teams are rarely built with everyone in the same age group. For one, forwards and d-men reach their peaks at different ages and it's pretty tough with teams mostly building through the drafts now to accomplish that anyways.
The facts are : this team needs to get better and we need to improve our D. We need to do it for the fans, to put butts in the seats but we also need to do it for the players we currently have on the team right now that we want to keep. (How long until a key player we're counting on, demands a trade out of here if we keep sucking donkey butt?)
I realize that everyone wants Sergachev, as if at age 19, he's going to come into the NHL and be the answer to all of our problems but the reality is that he's likely a good 2-3 years away from having a significant impact. What the hell do we do until then? Keep stinking it up? While there's a chance that happens regardless, I would hope Avs management have a real plan to turn this around in a major way.
Part of that, is gradually adding pieces that is going to allow you to be successful. People seem to think that any trade for Duchene needs to absolutely include that bonafide #1 D-man that we've been searching for. Even if we DO end up getting that prospect, one player cannot do it alone. Add the very best D-man in the league to this team this season and substract Duchene and you still don't have a playoff team. We need help in a lot of areas. I believe Hamonic & Barzal address a few of those.
Like I've said before, Barzal is the real prize for me, I just love that kid.