"Depth wins championships" = true
"High end talent wins championships" = true
What I have felt is that proper slotting really helps overall - having legitimate 1st line talent playing on the 1st line, legitimate 2nd line talent playing on the 2nd line, and so on.
Getting Eichel makes the slotting better. It makes both statements above true. Lindholm is a 1st line talent, but pushing him down to the 2nd line? Backlund is a legitimate 2nd line centre by any metric, but pushing him down to the third line makes it the best third line in the league, IMO. 4th line should still be good - it is solid now, and whatever pieces you have left with Lucic, Richardson, Lewis, Gawdin, Ruzicka, etc., should leave you with at least a competent 4th line, if not a really good one.
Who knows what the package from whatever team ends up looking like when it is all said and done - we can talk about what Treliving should have or shouldn't have offered relative to the package if the Flames 'lose out' on Eichel, and if the Flames 'win the Eichel sweepstakes', then we can discuss how much he might have overpaid or underpaid by.
I hope the Flames get him, but I also hope it is for the least amount of assets possible so that the Flames can not only ice the best team this year, but are able to re-sign Gaudreau, Tkachuk and Mangiapane, and fill the remainder of the holes as cheaply as possible but with proper slotting with the remaining assets like Dube, Zary, etc. (whomever isn't included in the trade).
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