I've made the point before that certain posters like to talk as if it's inevitable that we will compete for 10-15 years.
The logic is as followed:
20-21 is the step back year where we make sure we can sign EP, Hughes and Demko. OK cool, but we don't have the space to sign those guys long term and seem more likely for bridges. Let's say we bridge them for 2 or 3 years.
21-22 is the integrate Podkolzin/Hoglander years (it's not as if they are automatic guarantees to be impact players in the top nine) because we'll still be capped out so we can't make the multiple key additions we would need to.
Okay so here comes the big year where all the garbage outside of Myers and Ferland who will probably be LTIR'd so it's likely just Myers. Cool. This is the big 2022 summer. Time to set the team to compete for the next 8 years. Tons of capspace projected for that summer with only $23MM on the books assuming Ferland will be LTIR'd. 2022-2023 is the first of many big competing years.
Here's why - at this moment - the logic of assuming that we'll be in a great spot for sure - is ridiculous.
Boeser is an RFA this summer because we didn't have the capspace to sign him long term in 2019.
If we bridged EP/Hughes for 2 years, they're already eligible for contract extensions. You know who else is eligible for a contract extension in two years for the supposed entry to our long term window year?
27 year old Bo Horvat and a 29 year old JT Miller who will be 28 and 30 respectively when they expire in 2023. The two biggest steals we have on the roster who if they play at their current levels in the same roles, those guys are probably getting - at minimum - a 25-30% raise.
Haven't even mentioned sorting out Demko yet but I'd bet they bridge him because people are scared of giving young goalies long term deals.
As of now, the only guarantee is that we will have a 31 year old Nate Schmidt signed for three years more in 2022's summer.
If they don't start figuring out the long term future so that they can limit the pressures of having to sign every core player outside of Schmidt in basically a two year window, they're going to be f***ed.
If you don't think you're going to be a top ten team in 2021-2022, trading Miller in the next 8-9 months with high value is absolutely the right move. At the very minimum, they could double their initial investment.
I think they have to figure out a way to sign EP and Hughes to eight year deals because the value of a short term deal would be if you've got a bunch of really good veterans signed short term to compete. They'll only have one year like that (2022-2023) as things stand and I'm not sure how comfortable anyone will be with giving both Horvat and Miller 6+ years.