Theres nothing wrong with learning a lesson in the ECF. If our first run is all the way to the ECF that just shows what we can do. Young teams typically don't make a run this deep at first.
Our core is mostly set, we don't have massive UFA's this year, and we still have some young talent coming in to fill holes. We didn't mortgage the future for this run.
Probably a discussion better suited for the roster thread, but the biggest challenge is going to be bridging the gap between vets and youth in a way that maximizes total team performance and especially performance / $.
The timing of Panarin, Kreider, Trouba at a minimum IMO is questionable with how it connects with the development of the kids from both a peak combined roster output, as well as perhaps more importantly financially.
My fear is the NYR end up with "two windows" that are at 75% of optimal because in one instance the kids are too green and in the other the vets are terrible value / $ and the team can't be as complete because of that.
It is what it is. But NYR are in a strange position where you can say so much of this roster (especially current and projected future core players) are so young and gaining such great experience that should only be a good thing for the franchise moving forward. But they also have large investments across the roster (that are not going away any time soon), investments I personally am unsure of regarding whether they will be net positives or net negatives as the young portion of the roster matures.
Drury doesn't have an immediate fire under his ass this summer but the next 2-3 years are going to require a ton of creativity.
