You left out the biggest inference, just the fact they’re offering two year price freeze ‘incentives’ with the tone of the letter might be more of an indication they’re going on more of a long-term rebuild than we thought after the GM change.
Not having seen the letter (tone), the 2-year incentive might also simply be a desire (need) to "lock in" a certain base of sths, allowing them to focus more attention next year on adding new sths ... combined with the fact that this season serves as a reminder that even
"on paper" improvements may not produce results.
The other issue (which does lead one to think that they may be looking to take another step back before moving forward) is:
Where/how does the team get better next year?
-- Maybe Blackwood improves (and they sign another goalie (of NHL caliber) to share the load; could be good for a few points
-- Maybe (presumably?) Hughes is better next season
-- Maybe(?) Ty Smith makes the team and is an upgrade of one of the LH
-- Maybe they get lottery luck and draft someone who can play next season (although clearly it's asking a lot for that person to be a significant difference-maker in year 1)
-- Maybe it's all the (broken) system and a new coach/system will make a big difference
-- Maybe some of the young players who haven't played at the NHL level (or minimally) are ready next season.
That's a lot of maybe ... and of course maybe the GM can use cap space and draft picks (presumably, they will acquire more at the deadline) to upgrade via trade.
On the other hand:
-- The (already horrid) defensive core will (presumably) be without Vatanen (and, while many hate on Greene, he has been better than many others)
-- Of the forwards (other than Hughes) who has played regularly this season, are who is either young enough (and has shown enough) that improvement can be expected OR is older but having a "one-off" poor season that can reasonably be expected to bounce back next season?
-- is there a reason to think a top-tier UFA would sign here (even if ownership is willing to pay)? While money (usually) talks, will the Devils be willing to overpay (perhaps significantly) versus the market? Especially because they will again be paying Cory to not play (in the NHL) next season
-- Blackwood is still young, and it's not an easy team to play behind, but I think it's still far from certain that he is a long-term answer
-- For all of their other problems this year, they have had very few missed games by their regulars
I am usually optimistic, so I would note that, in Blackwood's starts, they are around a 90-point team. That's not good enough, obviously, but it does mean that they may not be THAT far away from being in the playoff mix if their goaltending improves (through Blackwood's growth and/or a new goalie being brought in) and some of the "maybes" come to fruition ... and that's assuming some important (Gusev, Palmieri, Coleman) are locked up; if they are looking to trade off any/all of them, then they are 100% committed to a "reboot" (which would start to look a lot like Edmonton... and I'm not sure not how many people are going to stick around for that as sths).
But if I'm ownership, I am certainly not making promises about the next 1-2 years and, I would gladly leave a few $$ on the table (from a potential year 2 price increase) to get that locked up.
