Sad that Brad left. When you look at the aggregate body of work of signings, trades and drafting, I think he is one of the best GMs in the league and I think we are going to really miss him.
Assuming Lindholm leaves I think we are on a certain path to rebuild regardless of who the GM is. I can't see Tanev, Backlund or Hanifin signing up for a worse roster year after next.
Those guys leaving leads to rebuilding whether Ownership's mandate is to compete year after year or not. The only way to compete is to patch the roster in free agency and that only works for so long, especially as the roster becomes less competitive year-over-year and less attractive to older free agents who want to win.
My gut tells me we are in for a 10+ year rebuild. For the first 3-5 years the roster will be patchworked via free agency to compete by mandate. The next 3 will be drafting at the top of the first round. The 3-4 after that will be waiting for those picks to grow up in the NHL.
At this point, I think bad coaching and a bad GM can get us to the bottom faster so I'm not going to really worry about who those folks are.
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