The 2017 draft was a big miss step in the "rebuild" IMO.
If they were going to trade high end picks at that draft, it should have been for Brayden Schenn, not Travis Hamonic. He also retained Michael Stone that off season as well.
Keep in mind, they drafted Fox in 2016. He's looking at the NHL depth chart and sees Hamilton, Hamonic and Stone all signed with term on the right side of the D. Plus Brodie who despite being a lefty always played his best on the right side with Gio. Maybe he would have never signed anyways, but that certainly didn't help.
The next off season was also a missed opportunity, as after making the big Hamilton trade, instead of going hard after a difference maker like ROR who was known to be available, they missed out yet again on a high end top 6 C and as a result filled out their top 6 by signing James Neal instead.
Of course, everyone knows that the team that got both those players went on to win the Cup after a slow start, a changing of the head coach, and also having Binnington step up and replace an always inconsistent Allen.
2019 off season saw them miss out on Kadri and also have to deal Neal for Lucic.
It'sbeen three disastrous off seasons in a row, and I am officially frightened about what might happen during this off season.
Last edited by Roof-Daddy; 08-21-2020 at 12:24 PM.
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