I've liked the strategy to keep guys like Brown and Batherson down when they could be struggling in the NHL better than some of the guys we have up. Gotta be mentally taxing to be playing for this Sens team right now; would be especially tough for young players who aren't even sure they belong in the NHL, forced into roles they're not ready for, and losing every night.
I'm a little concerned about Brännström; but he's been handling himself so far, and still plenty of time to send him down if things go south.
The key is we need to hold onto as many of the capable players we currently have as is reasonably possible - DeMelo, one of Tierney/Pageau (both?
), and at least a couple of Namestnikov, Brown, Duclair.
A lot of fans here clamoring to trade everyone for more picks and shove kids into the lineup, but f*** that. We already have 11 picks in the 2020 draft. If we're a bottom five team for another three years then who cares about all the picks, they'll just end up coming into a poisonous environment.
After this year we need to start competing, not necessarily for a playoff spot, but at least being in every game and being a difficult team to play against. Remember a couple years ago when the Canes were in the later stages of their rebuild, they were well out of the playoffs, but every opposing player said they hated playing against them. That's what we need to start working towards by next season.