Quote:
Originally Posted by ComixZone
Ah, you know what’s awesome?
We didn’t extend Elias Lindholm.
We aren’t extending Noah Hanifin or Chris Tanev.
We might be trading Jacob Markstrom.
…that’s all awesome. Just taking a moment to appreciate that Conroy is turning the last era over, and building something new. That’s refreshing to see.
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I'll take it one step further because to be honest none of those things are "awesome" just on their own...the "awesome" thing is that Conroy seems to understand age curves really well.
Toffoli / Tanev....didn't want to commit term or high $$$ to older players at all.
Lindholm...was comfortable with re-signing him at his age, but only for a reasonable dollar amount that made sense at his age/performance.
Hanifin...was willing to be a bit more aggressive due to his younger age and contract value overall.
To me having a differentiated approach for those players is the most promising thing, because it shows he understands the age curve and that you treat every scenario differently.
I've never liked the "re-sign everyone because it's our window" or the "go scorched earth and sell everything" approaches because you need to be more nuanced. Conroy seems to understand that.
The key to winning is building a team that can be a consistent contender over a long period of time, and in order to do that prioritizing ongoing asset management and understanding age curves is the key (Elite pieces generally age better than support pieces is something people need to remember too, so it's not just re-signing nobody past 30, but don't re-sign depth/support into their late 30s).