The OEL trade really did them in, which is weird because OEL and Garland have actually been perfectly solid players since the trade. Garland in particular is an excellent asset at his cap hit. But the issue is that those two players cost them 12 million in cap space along with Dylan Guenther, and then they passed on Logan Stankoven for Danila Klimovich. Just undoing that one trade, and making that one pick that everyone thought should be made by every team in the early 40s in that draft, would put them in much better shape to build something based on Pettersson, Hughes and Demko.
That's what happens when you have a desperate GM who doesn't understand the importance of cap space in the wake of Covid.
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