The team is going to veer into a top heavy salary structure no matter what (this is what happens when you have 5 all stars on the team)...Its not the worst problem to have...This is another reason why you dont trade Lekker or Willander...If you're going to cut salary, I would start with Boeser and Garland.
We've also tried not having a prime aged RHD the last number of years, and how has that turned out..?..We've had one of the weakest RHD in the league for years, and it is only now that you can look at our D core 1-7, and say thats pretty damn good.
Not being able to re-sign Hronek would be a failure/ disappointment by the management group considering what they gave up to acquire him...Hroneks impact on the team is vastly underrated around here.
Our lack of a first pair RHD is relevant for sure, I wouldn’t say prime aged as Tanev was a good age when he was here but the results lacked. The issue with this is that it coincided with a general lack of depth and talent on the d core as a whole, to the point that it lead a desperate Benning to take a large swing at OEL.
I agree with Garland and Boeser being possible or even probable cap casualties and potentially Mikheyev if he can play well enough to get his value up. I think these moves may need to happen irrespective of what happens with Hronek to round out the team.
As for the initial point, I do agree that we will become naturally too heavy. It’s a part of the process when you draft young players that become stars and get to the stage in the contract cycle that they are good enough to win. But how deep can that group go and how much of the cap as a percentage can a team allocate to its “core” group. It isn’t something I have an answer for, but it is an important question. EP, Hughes and Demko are our most important players, followed by Miller and then Hronek and Boeser. You could argue that EP signed under market value, and that the rest of this group has provided surplus value on contracts this year. If you overpay Hronek and I think $8m is, then that group accounts for 54% of the cap next season (without including OELs buy out) I would have to look back and see if a team has ever won with that kind of cap allocation concentration.
I also need to address the Toffoli and Guentzel idea, we had a shooting heater for a large part of the year. I am. It convinced this team can score enough with a sustainable shooting percentage. I would trade the combination of Mikheyev, Boeser and Garland for Toffoli, Guentzel and whatever we can get with the remaining funds in a heat beat. But if we can somehow make them work with a decent d group and a team that plays a solid system and is strong defensively as a unit then I think we have a better chance.
Finally, I think Hronek can bring back a substantial haul that no one else outside the three franchise cornerstones can.
This will add to that next wave that we absolutely need to be successful and give us a longer larger window.
