If you had told me last summer that trading Toffoli, Zadorov, Lindholm, Tanev and Hanifin and taking on a team’s cap dump for next year netted just two first round picks I would have been disappointed. I would have hoped for 4 or 5. But the mix of young players they received is definitely interesting, one of whom already is going to be a 30 goal scorer this year.
I really don’t think you build a contender through being great at trading your own pending UFA’s. Most teams do this when they’re not very good.
It’s about being committed to drafting and development and being better than other teams at evaluating talent. It already seems like there’s a different approach in this regard, which would be a great thing.
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