Pretty solid work by BT IMO.
I think many undervalue what Tanev will bring to this club. Beyond his defensive prowess he is a huge character guy and a leader in the room. That matters and it may matter more on this team than many others. There is a void there with the way the F's shrunk when things got hard against the Stars. He will be a guy to speak up and address that when required. He is also the goaltenders best friend as he makes their jobs a whole lot easier when he is on the ice. Yeah its a year too long likely, but thats what happens in free agency. Dollar amount is fine as well.
Markstrom was a good signing as well and may end up being a great one. A clear weakness on this team for years now. Hopefully he can play to the dollar level for at least 5 of the 6 years and outperform it the first 3.
I don't believe for a second that either Hall or Pieterangelo were ever realistic options. AP was simply way way too much money at a position they have a good chunk invested already. Hall never ever made sense to be here. That would have been 3 1st line LW's on the club along with a 5+M 4th line LW. Obviously people assumed JG would have been dealt in that scenario but you make that deal before ever pulling the trigger on the signing, and when that didnt happen at/before the draft, it was never going to.
This team is still desperately short RS players and that has to be addressed. Lack of cap space prevented that which is all on BT and his construction of the roster and its costs to this point, so there is no one to blame but himself.
There will be a trade at some point to try and equal this thing out a bit but it may take some time and patience to wait out other clubs who may be forced to trade a guy they dont want too. If he nails that then the UFA period is a solid A, if not its a tepid B+.
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