I'm not sure what the disconnect is. I'm not painting it as Ekblad only being a short-term add. He's signed for years, he's 24.
But. The benefit of adding him at that cost is more short-term than long-term. We would be adding him to try and capitalize on a Cup window that, as I've said before, I'm not so certain is still there.
Secondly, him taking away from our farm system is not a statement on him or what he adds. But it's about what he takes away. That when we need forwards when Schwartz leaves or gets injured, when Schenn declines, when Perron falls off or just plum leaves again. Or a LD when Scandella leaves or his play dips or if Perunovich fails to live up to billing. What do we have in the system to plug these holes? Not much.
What is Ekblad NOW? He's a very good defenseman on a bad team. What am I afraid of him being here in a few years? A very good defenseman on a bad team. Same as Anaheim. They ignored their farm system for a while and now they have a couple good defensemen wasted on a team that plays horrible team defense and probably won't be good for another 3 years.
I understand that people want to bet on the better picture of now instead of considering what is ahead, but it is kinda like a doctor telling a smoker to stop smoking and them just thinking "I'll enjoy now and worry about tomorrow later." As if tomorrow will never come.