TheKingPin
Registered User
The Canes 5 best forwards Avg age is 23.6(skinner,rask,aho,lindholm, staal)
Phillies 5 best are 25.8(voracek,giroux,konecny, simmonds, schenn, you could argue couts too)
The point is Cane's forward core is much younger, and their defence has fewer maybes and are on their way to being elite while being of a similar age too. Canes and Philly finished one point of each other this year, and the Canes roster as far as the core is concerned is younger. I get that Philly is going to add 2 good forward pieces next year and someone on defence but they have less cap space to work with and canes are adding pieces to their roster too.
The flyers top 5 is much better and higher end. The canes are doing good things there but they can't compete at forward. You acknowledge the flyers getting two players but don't project the age difference change. Patrick would have gone #3 last year and we will likely get him this year. Lindblom scored more for his age than guys like forsberg. Literally had one of the best seasons there all time. Players on that leage do great here with far less accolade. Those two guys drop the age gap significantly considering it's only two years. The flyers D are also likely further along than most would think. Hagg and Morin got some limited NHL time last season and looked great. Add them to ghost and provorov and we have a good looking D already. Plus Sanhiem and Myers in 1-1.5 years and will be good to go. Rookies matter more than ever now and should be given more clout. That means less time for them to reach higher end play.