Quote:
Originally Posted by traptor
Are we in win now though?
We sold our top scorer from last season. We hired a rookie coach.
We're saving multiple spots for prospects and trying to get younger.
In Conroy's recent interview, Kerr asked Conroy if this team is a legitimate contender. Conroy paused, then said that this team is better than it showed last season.
All this doesn't make me think that Conroy thinks this is a win-now team.
|
Conroy is going to run the season as if he was in win-now mode to see what he actually has to play with. Conroy hesitates to answer questions about competing, because he doesn't know what he actually has here.
Last year was bizarro Sutter world. Toffoli is not the top scorer on the team in a normal year. Toffoli is a 50-60 point who was a huge Sutter favorite and excelled more under a Sutter system than most players. The team wisely chose not to give Toffoli, aged 31, the large extension he was looking for. In a regular year Toffoli is 4-6 in scoring on the team. He's far closer to the Mangiapane/Coleman/Backlund level of contribution than he should be to the Huberdeau/Lindholm/Kadri level.
Having multiple spots for prospects is a normal way to run a franchise. Plugging all spots on the team with griding journeymen is not normal. On any other team, competing or not, guys like Pelletier, Coronato, Ruzicka, Duehr and Zary would all be getting playing time. Their inclusion on the team doesn't signal anything either way. In fact, many of the Stanley Cup winners won Stanley Cups because players like that stepped up in their 1-2 years and put up 40-60 points, pushing their team over the top. In a cap world, you need guys on ELCs who can contribute.