If you seriously think that this management walked into a good situation I don't know what to say. This team had literally 2? decent prospects in horvat and Hutton maybe gaunce or shink. The core is old, Kesler was a cancer and wanted out the future is in drafting and developing. this management group can do that. So this year if we had the cap space we could have franson playing d, sure that's an improvement but it won't make this team a contender so what would be the point.
Or you know...A blueline consisting of Edler, Tanev, Hamhuis, Garrison as a nice collection of top 4 guys. 5,6 and 7 guys as good or better than the guys who last night played in the 4, 5, 6 spots. Yes prospects like Hutton and Horvat. And some others even. The NHL depth wasn't great...no one has said it was I don't think. Somehow Benning has made it worse. His additions have been lacklustre to downright laughable yet called "foundational" and important pieces moving forward. McCann is his bright spot in the NHL after two offseason on the job. Looks to be a great pick.
The team had cap flexibility. A good amount in fact when everything was taken into account. $6 million was spent on precisely the wrong guy for instance. And while wanting out, Kesler was still a good asset with apparently more than two teams on his list. No leverage was even attempted to be gained over the Kesler camp. It's part and parcel with a history of poor asset management he has displayed to this point.
You don't get the point of cap space? The point of cap space is to give you flexibility to maneuver and help you make the most of your assets as you make moves. Honestly, I don't think it's a good argument to say who was moved or signed that is better. That's part of it...the other part of it is who could have been moved or signed or whatever if you had that extra flexibility to bury a bad contract in the minors or do something with that cap space. For every player that is traded there are countless others who could have been moved and were discussed being moved. Removing a valuable asset such as available cap space ham strings a team on the rebuild. And just because a guy may not make the team a contender doesn't mean you ignore making incremental improvements. Of course the real problem is that Benning believes he has been making those incremental improvements and quite frankly he just hasn't been.
