I think the fourth line, especially olivier, took their time to get accustomed to each other and Larsen stopped playing the Torts line blender. But recently, the fourth line of Robinson-Kuraly-Olivier has been one of our best (which is why we are in last place). Pederson has stepped into Kuralys role and has been fine too.
I would not be surprised to see Robinson and Olivier move on. We have so many bodies. And although I’m cool with both players, we will be getting Voronkov here as well as Texier (I think), and the numbers just might not make sense for them to stick around.
It was funny reliving people being up in arms about the fourth round pick though. Good times
For the record, I was one of those (one post on page 1 and one on page 3). I did have an issue with the asset for Olivier (it appears I was wrong and that he was “worth” a 4th rounder, although, at the same time, we’d probably be better off still having/using that lottery ticket than the value Olivier provided based on how our season went. But we will see if he’s in the long-term plans/what his role is).
But the bigger issue to me was the mindset. This is a bit different than Gudbranson, as an example, where the “asset” (the cap/term) was also pretty much a clear disaster the moment pen was put to paper, and probably the bigger issue than the mindset.
But both moves to me just represented mindset that didn’t make much sense and showed being out of touch in today’s NHL, looking specifically for physical players with little else brought to the table, as if that was our issue. We appeared to basically let one game last year against Minnesota dictate moves, as if we were a really good team that just needed an enforcer or two (and guys that are only/predominantly enforcers/sandpaper and provide little other value). And lo and behold, fast forward, and we’re in last place.
