But the draft picks!!! Won't somebody
please think of the draft picks!?
(just good-natured ribbing)
But RL, the draft picks matter. They simply do. Especially the 1st/2nd/3rd round variety. Else, why would so many non-playoff teams' GMs all be doing the same thing?
Look, right now there are 11 NHL teams who are obviously out of the playoff picture: Ottawa, Toronto, Buffalo, Philadelphia, NJ, Columbus, Carolina, Dallas, Colorado, Arizona, Edmonton. Of those 11 teams, 9 of them had defenseman UFAs-to-be, 10 of them had either defenseman or forward UFAs-to-be (interestingly, Ottawa has no important UFAs coming up this offseason).
Of those 9 teams with UFA-to-be defensemen, how many didn't move their UFA-to-be defenseman at the deadline? One. Us. (And really, Dallas moved their UFA-to-be defenseman back in November, when they traded Gonchar to Montreal, so the number could really be 10).
Of those 10 non-playoff teams with UFA-to-be players at any position, how many didn't move their UFAs-to-be at the deadline? One. Us.
We are the
only obvious non-playoff team that had UFAs, and didn't move any. The. Only. One. Hell, Calgary has a real shot at the playoffs (but are still obviously in rebuilding mode), and they moved a UFA-to-be.
Why are we the only team that doesn't do it?
Hint: We are/were also the only team that played man-to-man defense.