It's a difference of opinion on where we're at.
Up front, I think we have enough for a playoff push. We have our core I mentioned. We have a ridiculous amount of forward prospects coming through the system, a lot of which look very promising, and we are going to run out of spaces to play them. We don't need to add to that core with young forwards. We need to find the players that will make the game easier for Hughes, Zacha, and Bratt so they can be that veteran presence for the next wave of forwards.
We can't be playing a small, skilled rookie 18 year old center who hasn't played professional hockey with a 27 year old small, skilled winger who has never played in NA. It's a recipe for disaster and we've been doing it for the last few years with Zacha and recently Hughes and wondering why they are struggling. Laine doesn't change that; I want to save those assets for whatever defender comes available and look to take advantage of situations like Killorn or Bozak as cap dumps. Maybe someone like Dadonov who plays a strong two-way game at forward. Maybe in two years when you find out the team desperately lacks a sniper to go over the hump like where Carolina is now, you package some assets and deal for Laine. But we're not ready to make those trades.
The issue is the same on defense. I feel that if we can address that, we set ourselves up to get productive seasons out of Hughes, Hischier, Bratt, or Zacha. I think they have it in them and we can push toward the playoffs with them as the forefront next season. That would be my goal moving forward, I don't think we need to build any longer we need to start getting tangible results out of what we have.
