awkward optics? What bs! Oh, how horrible, Chayka sucks (is inexperienced, makes stupid moves, etc)
Strome and Domi had pretty much plateaued here. They weren't advancing or improving. The opportunity to acquire "effective" players came along and Chayka took the deal. I doubt Strome, Perlini, or Domi would have even come close to how they've done with other teams if they had stayed here; in fact, we would probably be out of the playoff picture as well. The problem is, we don't have any "super skilled" players to team them up with. Now, with this in mind, if we could have kept Strome and Perlini but acquired Debrincat, would they have improved? Perhaps, but from what I saw in games (early in the season), Strome had given up (and rightfully so--to an extent), Perlini was indifferent, and Domi seemed to be just going through the motions (in hopes of getting a "change in scenery"). Obviously, I could be wrong, but trades are trades and stuff happens; also, in my mind, comparing players after trades over time seems like a useless endeavor on the most part (unless-on an equal trade where both players are around the same age/skill-one player becomes a 100 point per season player and the other is playing in Europe after three or four seasons).
As much as I've relied on stats in the past for discussions (on this board and elsewhere), I have finally realized that stats in a vacuum are largely useless.