The rub here is you can get 100c on the dollar when you trade for a rental. A long term top 6 young C is likely to cost 150c to 250c on the dollar, which is a lot harder to stomach.
That's not harder to stomach. That is the impossible to fill void.
Why pay 100c now and 100c later and then have nothing to show for it?
Just pay 200c or 250c now and fill the need for 5-7 years and be done with it.
If you're willing to empty the clip on a 24-26 year old 50-60 point C you can probably do that, but at what cost? It's not gonna be Nils, Edstrom, and a 2nd. It's gonna be 4 "prime" pieces. You willing to trade that for a Bo Horvat?
How about Nils, Kravtsov, a first and a second? Can I get someone who is going to be a 1C someday, better than Horvat?
I'm looking at the Eichel deal.
Yeah, that's exactly how we should be spending these pieces.
Once we have that situation all resolved, then we can go trading excess first round picks for rentals. Until then, I might need that pick.