i mean even with barkov and trocheck locked in i saw borgstrom isnt off limits. keep those two, once we get rid of bjugstad thatll cover the pay raises for dadonov (our most important winger to retain) and hoffman (i still have high hopes for him, just put him with a more suitable player (not trocheck). or if we keep borgstrom, im not opposed to trocheck being available for the simple fact that his value should be very very high. im not saying to sell off everyone, im not advocating for trading these players, im just open to it as opposed to the "under no circumstance would i ever consider it" camp.
werent we surpringly enough one of the few teams who inquired deeply or something at the deadline in regards to karlsson? but we'd never get him because it involves parting with the most sacred thing in the world....prospects.
what im hoping for is trade bjugstad for picks and prospects to pay for dads and hoffs pay increases. then when (hopefully) panarin becomes a free agent we trade huberdeau for a high pick and use his money to sign panarin. Dadonov-Barkov-Panarin needs to happen. Borgstrom plays with Hoffman, Trocheck runs his own line. or, with borgstrom being a highly rated center prospect, and we already have barkov and trocheck as it is, trade him for a highly rated D prospect.
but i guess at the end of the day they need to figure out goaltending and defense. reimer is too inconsistent to ever be a starter, and luongo is almost 40 and approaching retirement with a lot of recent ailments, which makes things even worse than the age itself.
we have ekblad, yandle, and matheson on D. meanwhile, we have barkov, trocheck, dadonov, huberdeau, hoffman, borgstrom, tippett, denisenko, all at forward. we have good offense but we're simply not balanced, now or for the longterm. we need to make a move for a top-4. we have more than enough pieces.