1) Proven Coach. Yes Brad, you're going to have to go for the "flashy" option for a change. It's worth it.
2) Give up some of our winger talent to acquire multiple center prospects. Center-out is the new philosophy.
3) Let the current kids develop with opportunities in every situation, even if there are growing pains. That means giving guys like Kylington more of a look over guys like Stone. Otherwise how do we know what we have? Depth vets aren't going to improve.
4) No more albatross free agency signings, with the exception of a top line talent like Hall. No 5+ MM for any one slotting into the middle six. Keep it to cheap periphery adds. They're much more likely to play to their value.
5) Patience. Savvy hockey trades a la Hamilton/Lindholm are good, sending firsts for Hamonics is bad. Trade to get younger if you do, only splurge for big name vets when you're established as a competitive playoff team.
6) Try to entice a goalie of the ilk of Markstrom/Bishop/Lehner when possible. There will be good ones available. We have to put our chips in for that kind of tender, they can bring it into their mid thirties in a lot of cases.
7) Be patient and hang on to your high draft picks for a few consecutive years. Add picks wherever possible in this time.
8) Eventually, become actually, formidably, good.
|