Because they're sheltered players, and the guys doing the sheltering on their old teams are way better than Nashville's forwards.
Stalberg is the highest potential of the bunch, but he's a really dumb player. He's Ales Kotalik, if Kotalik had wheels instead of a slapper. If whoever his center ends up being can bounce pucks off him, great. If he has an off-season shooting% wise, he's not really bringing anything to the table.
Cullen will be 37 by the start of the season, and was pretty poor in a grinder-heavy lineup before the Wild added Suter/Parise/Brodin/Coyle.
Each guy does well when things around him are going well, but aren't really the type to turn around their team, or even their linemate's fortunes by themselves.
If you're spending 11+ mil on UFAs, I'd rather get one or two guys whose floor is the type of productive, sheltered third liners that Stalberg and Cullen are, and who has a much higher ceiling, than a bunch of guys who are either busting or succeeding because the things around them are going well.
The way Trotz mixes lines up, there really aren't 1st, 2nd, and 3rd lines in the traditional sense. Everyone of his lines tends to be two-way, aggressive forechecking lines.
The things that the signings address are 'toughness', puck possession, and depth for keeping the youngsters at forward motivated to keep their jobs and follow assignments with veterans lurking to take their jobs. Before that we had a glaring hole in the second pairing with Josi moving up to replace Suter that Seth Jones has likely filled.
Toughness and puck possession being addressed shows that the team is likely to follow the 2010 model which nearly knocked Chicago out of a Cup run rather than the 2012 model with a noted KHL cast-off that got out-Predator'ed by Phoenix. Injuries to Wilson, Hornqvist, and Fisher last season also showed how much other teams could take liberties and pot-shots at our roster. I highly suspect much of the signings intent were to also protect the assets developed in Forsberg, Wilson, Horny, etc. and mentor the young forwards (ie Budish, Leisig, etc.) in the system as much anything else to defend each other. I agree that the prices paid seem out of whack, but so is the price of free agents and the cost of insurance that has any value when you need it.
Then again I grew up as a Blues fan in the 80's that was left for dead on the leagues's doorstep and where stars like Gilmour and Mullen were cast off in return for aging second liners and grinders, yet always made the playoffs and occasionally the conference finals. It's all about the coach, the buy-in from players that can play the roles needed for your system, and of course, for things like avoiding untimely injuries to break right for you. If that falls apart, we're picking top 5 again. Otherwise, we're a playoff team in the old Norris Division sense. Maybe not a Cup team; but one that'll keep a lot of other teams from getting there too.
