Trying to make this discussion about the 10 days from July 1 to today is a good tactic for the folks trying to bat this down... but this has been a discussion among a group of people for several years now. You don't have to agree with it, obviously, but you can't just take snapshots and say well its not true because there are other reasons THIS thing didnt make sense. There were only a few things that made sense THIS July 1. The Bickell Terivinen trade was not a pure cap dump. so on and so forth.
You can point to each individual instance and say well, there were reasons besides just money that it didnt happen (like maybe this player didnt sign here, or maybe this team/player didnt want to be in the metro or whatever)... but at some point they will have to spend some money. At some point. or else this will become pretty indisputable.
Some of the most vociferous defenders of the organization on this were talking months ago about what a big offseason this was going to be for the team and Ray and are now saying with a straight face (presumably) thats its a win that they have done nothing and NEXT year is the year. Ok, we'll keep playing the game.
I just don't think the "or else" moment is here yet. I don't anticipate UFA signings next year either. I do expect we will learn something with the Nico, Hall and perhaps MarJo extensions. I think MarJo will be the best indicator. I expect Hall to be offered a slightly below market deal so maybe 10.5 per and Nico to get something
based on this upcoming season. If he breaks 60 points I'd look for him to be asking for something close to what Marner eventually gets in TOR. MarJo is trickier. If he plays well and the team is not contending for a playoff spot and they dump him at the TDL for futures then that says something. If they package him with a then expendable piece or two for an upgrade somewhere else that will require a new contract that says something as well.
It's easy, if disheartening, to suggest the owners are not interested in the competitive status of the team, but in hockey, it just seems to take a fair amount of time to re-stock a bare cupboard. Look at PIT, EDM, BUF, TOR, each required multiple very high picks to pan out at a very high level, and even then, the results have been mixed. I'm not saying you are necessarily wrong, but I just haven't seen anything that "moves the needle" for the team yet in UFA. I would have liked them to sign CDH but who knows if they tried and he said no or demanded an extra year and additional annual money to play in NJ. It's not easy making this assessment when we are privy to very little of the actual information the team uses to make its decisions. Additionally, there are a number of Shero and Castron guys on the way up. I imagine that they would prefer to have their guys succeed rather than have older mercenaries that just fill a role for an overpayment. Sure the young guys are cheaper, but they are also their guys. Guys like Green and Lovejoy and even Boyle do more than demand a lineup spot because of their contract status, they block younger players who would likely start out worse than the vet but with a season might surpass the vet. Of course, Hynes plays a role in that as well. We'll see. I like to think that the ownership talk about Hall was not just blowing smoke.