That's probably what will happen though. Status quo because:
A. Signing players is hard (no s***, no quality UFAs will want to sign here)
B. Probably no rookies will make any difference because we don't have much prospects quality
C. "I believe we have a team to push for a playoffs spot"
There you go, enjoy 20-21.
Along the same lines, I posted this a while back in another thread, but i think it's better served here:
Not trying to be sarcastic here, but how exactly are we supposed to be better next year?
Forget the UFA route - this year's class is terrible and whoever is somewhat worthwhile (Hoffman, Hall) is not gonna sign here anyway.
Our young core will continue to improve you say? Who exactly? Sure, Suzuki, but how much can he possibly improve to next year - 65 points realistically if everything breaks right and he avoids the very real sophomore slump? Lehks, Armia and Danault are who they are - 15 to 22 goal scorers perfectly suited for the third line, so no real improvement next year. Same for Tatar - decent player who gets his 20-25 goals playing in the top 6, nothing more.
Domi and Drouin are the true wildcards and who the hell knows what to expect, but its safe to say Drouin will never be the 30-35 goal scoring game changer people imagined.
Don't even want to mention Mete, but let's just say I've been calling it forever - that he's nothing more than an overated 6th or 7th dman and he'll be lucky if he still has a place on this team.
As for the vets, if anything, they'll regress. How much more can Weber, Price and Gallagher possibly have to give? One will probably need offseason surgery, one is getting burnt out from all the games he's been asked to play because this bozo gm can't find a backup and the other can't be expected to give more than he has (and god forbid he gets another concussion).
What about the young guys coming up you say? Who exactly will move the needle? Poeling has a very limited offensive ceiling, Vedejmo and Evans are fourth line plugs, Caufield, Harris and Struble need at least another year of seasoning, Fleury is a bottom 6 dman, Romanov, i mean , some people make it sound like he is the second coming of Chris Pronger...give the kid a break. Even if he makes the team (which is not a given as most expect) he has never been an offensive force anyways. And Brooks had a tough year and already has people questioning his hockey iq and strength, so forget making an impact with the big club next year.
That leaves Kotka, but at this point, no one has a clue what to expect. Even if he bounces back, how much can we really expect out of him - 15 goals?
oh...i almost forgot about Primeau, sure he'll be better that the garbage we've had, but last time i checked he can't score goals.
I won't even mention the likes of Ikonen, Olofsson, and Ylonen who are at least 2 years away (if they even pan out, which i don't think will happen),
Yes folks, enjoy this season cuz it will probably be
worse next year all thanks to our glorious gm.
