I disagree re moving players prior to start of the season unless you know exactly what you are getting,not dealing for conditionals,that's not maximizing assets it minimalizing.
Rarely do u get 2 Euros picking 50th,not saying u won't,yes select 2 and hope the best one shows,and it better be the 1st guy chosen.
I think that Day,Sergachev,and Knott do return,as for Stanley not sure about a secondary deal,maybe the condition verbally is if Spits win the Cup,a deal is done,if not no deal.
The following is my initial opening day line up including guys I am expecting to return.
Forwards
Brown-Vilardi-Euro
Luchuk-Knott-Boka
Angle-Laishram-Purboo
OBrien-Benwell-Burns
Spares/other
Aloise-Loon-Stewardson, Playfair
Rychel, Sirman,D'Amico
Def
Titrone-Sergachev
Nother-Day
Corcoran-Stanley
SP
Staios
Fallowfield
Henault
Goalies
Dipietro
Bauer
SP
O'Leary
Now I can see Brown being dealt, probably Ottawa,would like to see Chelmelski as part of this deal,,a year younger,a center.
Guys like Knott, perhaps Luchuk,Day and Stanley if not moved in the summer prime candidates to get traded
Dipietro definitely would be 1 guy while reluctant to deal him that would fetch a ransom,and I would not hesitate to pull the trigger on
such a deal.
Sergachev would be dealt if Montreal says he isn't coming back or wants him somewhere else, otherwise he stays.
The other day I proposed a line of O'Brien, Aloise and Burns, wrecking crew with some talent,they would energize the franchise IMO,so I think they should be tried at camp.
Joey Trifone could be interesting on the back end,and if the Spits could get Cade Webber,it presents an interesting D for years to come,u would have,Staios, Henault, Corcoran, Trifone,Webber, Fallowfield,and he is the old man at 18,Nother is going to be 19, so u might get an O/A year out of him.
I say do things right no panic deals, limited conditional deals,is the way to go not the scorch the earth things discussed here.
There are nice building blocks, especially in goal and on the D, future wise, should be interesting this summer and beyond.
If everyone returns that you think might then provided all those flyer picks that haven't arrived yet suddenly came Windsor would have a decent team that could go a couple of rounds in the playoffs.
Keep the line up intact and roll the dice and see what happens., although the scorched draft cupboards mean this team would not be able to add, the decent young talent goes a year behind in developing and us fans see another decent year with not much hope for the immediate future as a full on rebuild that is desperately needed gets pushed back another year when we have fewer high players to deal and just as few draft picks.
Why hold Sergachev if he is 50/50?
If you think the team will deal him if he returns why spend the card which leaves one less card to bring someone else in or up.
Stanley and Brown have had various rumours surrounding them about potential deals. If there is any truth to those rumours get the deals done in the off season. Why use two cards on them then two more cards to replace them later in the season? Get the deals done and use the four cards bringing up kids in the system, signing a couple of FAs or acquiring kids that will be here for a couple of seasons.
Those three players have one year left barring any return for an OA season.
Windsor isn't maximizing assets holding onto them for all of this season and if they are looking to sell at the deadline there are other players in Windsor and around the league that will garner as much if not more interest.
If you're going into a full rebuild, which when you look at Windsor's draft board for the next ten years is desperately needed you're not going to be able to deal away half your roster at the deadline and then expect to even have the cards to replace them.
There's more contenders in the summer than there is in January. Vilardi and DiPietro make sense to deal at the deadline when we know who the top contenders are and prices are driven up.
Laishram and Luchuk make sense at the deadline. Steady players that can fill a role on a team that will go deep in the playoffs yet versatile enough to support a young, rebuilding team. OAs are cheap in the offseason but if they provide what a team is looking for they will bring a better return at the deadline.
Day and Knott. I really doubt either one returns, 50/50 for Day, less for Knott. Move Day at the deadline, would be one of the better D available but since most probably don't expect him back you probably couldn't get an offseason deal done for him even for conditionals. Knott would be a surprise to return. Probably bring the highest return of all our OAs but just don't see him coming back.
It may be a scorched earth way of doing things but when the team has no seconds for nine or ten drafts, no thirds or fourths for three or four drafts and various other shortcomings in their draft board that they are not going to recoup or improve on if they hold onto most of these players then what do they do?
Do they hang in their for five or six years hoping they strike it rich in the fifth, sixth, seventh and with rounds every year?
Or do they just be content fighting for a playoff spot one year then missing the following year until they finally get back to a full draft board sometime in the late 2020s.
As for the future, how many 16 year olds from this draft have a legit shot of making this in a full rebuild?
How many 17 year olds from this or last years drafts have a legit shot if this team does a full rebuild?
As always, what happens will always be somewhere in the middle of everyone's speculation but the reality is if this team wants their immediate future to include being competitive quickly they will need to make drastic changes otherwise that three to four year junior cycle could drag on for six or seven years.
HL
Your always an optimist and feel myself and others are mainly pessimists but the reality is for the next three or four drafts this team has few if any high round picks to build with. They can't bet on hitting on mid round picks and even if they manage to be somewhat competitive while holding off on dealing most of these players and hitting on mid round players they don't have the draft picks required to make deals to add.
They are in poor shape going forward after this season and will have to do something drastic or be stuck in mediocrity for years to come.