But in the case of Wilson, Laviolette should feel there's enough of a deterrence or a threat to have to remind Wilson to keep himself in check.
But then please answer this question for me: Do you feel that The Islanders, the Bruins, the Blues, and the Pens have enough of a deterrence or a threat to have to remind Wilson to keep himself in check?
....because he's injured multiple players on all those teams. He hasn't even faced any real retribution from them either. That seems...undeterred.
When I watch Panarin and Zibanejad and Strome all doing magical shit, I'm always sort of left wondering, will we ever be really good while they're still doing this?
Yeah I don’t get how people can’t see this. Why sign Panarin if we’re rebuilding? Because he’s one of the best players alive and him being here help the kids both by not having the team built to rely on them and by giving them a superstar to play with. Imagine Laf and especially Kakkos rookie seasons if the team was built to rely on them to be top 6 scorers or there wasn’t a Panarin level talent to drive the ship while they adjusted
You'd also have to be a little naïve to think that Dolan didn't sign off on the letter/rebuild but say "Hey we still have to keep the lights on. We still have to sell tickets." Plus I really do think that they think Panarin will age well like Backstrom whose 33 right now and a point per game. I don't think they ever valued Strome as a long term solution and they were lukewarm on ZBad.
IMO, once those ping pong balls went the Rangers' way, their actual window to compete for the cup comes when Kakko and Lafreniere come of age ie 22+. They are the guys that will have to be the main scoring options with guys like Panarin, Fox and (??) complementing them in the top 5 scoring on the team.