Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
You will have to be more specific. Based on the evidence at hand when Raymond was signed, what evidence was there that Gaudreau, Jooris, Granlund, Ferland or even Sven would be ready for everyday NHL duty?
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The issue wasn't signing Mason, it was signing him for 3 years. No onr has a problem eith Setoguchi's signing because it gave players opportunity. Coming into the season who was more likely to see NHL time, Josh Jooris or Sven Baertschi/Johnny Gaudreau? Reality is that with the setoguchi signing, our RW depth was something like
Jones
Colborne
Setoguchi
McGrattan
Our C depth was something like
Backlund
Monahan
Stajan
*
While our LW depth (based on the players' success the year before) was something like:
Hudler
Glencross
Byron
Bouma
So where we had a hole was some depth players. Yes, scoring was a concern but trying to put gauze on it was never going to be the solution for what's supposed to be a rebuild. Signings like Setoguchi where if they work out great and if they don't, well there's always next year and hopefully a prospect steps up.
I suppose the cap floor comes into play, but it doesn't explain the terms remaining on Engelland Raymond etc. Even the Oilers' bad contract Nikitin is only a 2-year deal. Did we really need to convince Engelland to come here?
We were supposed to be bad even with Raymond, but Raymond/Engelland/Bollig weren't the reasons we were actually pretty good. Granlund, Jooris, and Ferland all stepped up early in the season and got us into a good position, when Raymond returned and struggled for the next two months.
At that point Raymond didn't "become" a bad deal. He was a bad deal from the beginning because it assumed it would take three damn years for one of our prospects to become a 20 goal scorer, never mind one that brings other intangibles.
If Raymond brought some intangibles that can justify his cold streaks no one would be complaining. The problem is that he's just his tangibles while every other player we have is anything but that (or in the case of Johnny, his tangibles are very consistent).
The point isn't to dwell on the past it's to look at next year. Based on the evidence right now, Raymond is taking up a roster spot and future cap space that could be a significant part of Gaudreau/Monahan/Giordano/Russell/Hudler's inevitible new deals. I think Treliving is even on the same page based on how long he kept Poirier up, how he called Baertschi up near the end, that he doesn't want a guy like Raymond to be a long term issue keeping prospects off the ice. You also see it with Wotherspoon where he's been called up multiple times and hasn't played.
Even if they're not ready, prospects don't get called up to sit in the press box like that while guys like Corey Potter play.
Brad is almost definitely going to make space. We've gotten reliably deep to a point where if we have injuries, our stud prospects just sit around in the pressbox. That's not the kind of depth you want unless you're a cup contender which we're not - you want the depth where your prospects get an opportunity to earn a roster spot cleanly against underperforming veterans. You shouldn't need half your roster depleted to even get a prospect into a game as a rebuilding team.
There's a balance that needs to be struck - not so far in the direction of the Red Wings (who were never in a genuine rebuilding position and are a poor comparision) where Dan Cleary was keeping Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar off a roster just by being healthy and not so far in the direction of the Oilers.
Red Wings fans were right to complain about Dan Cleary's signing because it was just an attempt to delay the inevitible.