To be completely honest, I was having an awful day yesterday and I was probably more argumentative than was warranted. 100% my bad. I actually don't think we disagree as much as it might appear.
I wouldn't describe anyone who can/will be replaced by a rookie as a "major player" but I see what you're saying. To give an example of my thinking, if Miller makes Brass expendable in the future, Brass could be flipped for a second perhaps (maybe Brass + a later pick for a first?), which wouldn't be bad if there's a replacement in line and it gets the type of picks this team has thrown away as of late. Would a trade like that be an about face on the "win now" thing? I wouldn't think so, but maybe others would?
I agree that the MSL trade gave up too much, but I still don't think it's quite as bad as ruining the future or whatever talk is commonly being used. MSL will play here next year, and perhaps even beyond that, and though his start has been underwhelming, I don't really buy this whole bad juju around the team thing. He's a PPG player and he'll be one here once the sample size expands in my opinion. Many of the guys who came here and "fell off" actually did what could/should have been expected of them from a reasonable person who watched their game. I truly think that once Callahan was lost, the team needed a leader, a leader who actually backs their talk up on the ice consistently unlike Richards/Nash, and MSL is exactly that. I think he can have a very positive effect on the young guys off the ice, and hopefully even on the ice.
I absolutely agree about the Clowe trade and have all along. That was just tremendously stupid, and it makes the MSL trade, which I don't think was a horrible idea on it's own, look worse than it really is.
Maybe my thinking/hoping that some of these picks can be replaced is pie-in-the-sky optimism, but I honestly don't see many other ways to build the team from the point they're at now, save for moving a Nash, MSL, McD, Staal, Girardi type piece. Maybe (hopefully not) Staal will be moved, but that'd be due to him being a UFA unwilling to resign, which is pretty much just embracing the inevitable a few months early. If that has to happen, that could be a place to recoup some assets, though the question of who will play those minutes is a real one.
Just out of curiosity, what would you do if you were given the reigns of the team as it stands now? Obviously, it's a far fetched idea for any of us, but for me personally, I'd stick with the big guys as they are (unless you can somehow move Nash for a similarly productive player with a better attitude), abandon this dream of somehow winning this year or next year with any certainty, let rookies come up, trade away whoever is in their way assuming that their play is instilling real confidence, and try to recoup the lost picks. From there out, ride the "core" guys and the rookies and see how it builds up. Do you think they need to ride out this "win now" idea because they're already this deep? If so, until when?
