So you think that sources like LeBrun/Staple/ McKenzie/ Friedman/Dreger who reported over the last two seasons , about Lou's attempts to acquire Stone/Hall are bs reports and Lou needing goal scoring, did not attempt to acquire these goal scorers?
Have alllll these guys been reporting about "Lou's attempts" to get Stone or Hall?
The gentlemen you name above are very capable at looking at our team, seeing our incredible need for scoring, and then simply adding 1+1 on their own accord to achieve the chief goal of their jobs - create news, gain interest, views, clicks, etc.
Further, their "contacts" in the business are people straight FROM the other organizations who have every reason in the world to throw some team names out there for the sake of generating certain pressure points and hopefully up the prices on tradeable commodities.
Not a one of them has an inside track to Lamoriello.
Not a one of them!
And we all know how much value Lamoriello places on hush, hush confidentiality.
Counter-question:
Do you think that even Staple - arguably the closest journalist to this team - does anything more than gander about what Lamoriello is up to?
As for acquiring Pags,great.Wish he could have done so without overpaying with a 1st/2nd/ conditoonal 3rd.
Ahh, the old damned if you do, damned if you don't train of thought.
So, what exactly are you saying here? Did Lamoriello target a prized commodity and get him or didn't he?
Folks can't have their cake and eat it too - not just for the sake of seeing their own narrative heading down the toilet.
In any case, I'd be very happy to see that conditional 3rd go to Ottawa, because it would mean we had just won the Cup.
But let me attach your point above to the acquisition of Pageau.
How many of all these pundits - and I love reading and hearing from them all - were hammering out the news that Lamoriello was specifically targeting Pageau and was a front runner to get him? Where was all the rumoring in the weeks heading up to the deadline?
I might be wrong, but I recall that trade generally coming out of nowhere. BAM!
Of course, outside of "scoring", we were also sorely missing a 3rd line center. Something anyone in the hockey world could have aptly determined.
And we simply can't deny that Pageau was one of the biggest pieces available at this trade deadline.
Heck, considering he has the most goals on the team AND is your ideal 3rd line center, Lou basically got a guy that theoretically answers both needs - one entirely and one at least to a degree.
Like it or hate it, we have a six-year time frame to see how this works out.