Quote:
Originally Posted by transplant99
I will take finding an NHL starting G this season over worrying about whether the team finishes 9th worst or 18th worst.
Only losers cheer for losses.
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It's also an essential block for building a team...from the net out. You look at teams that have struggled to turn the corner in their rebuild, and it's often because they don't have a reliable #1 goalie. That can help to support a team through all sorts of growing pains as they learn how to win.
I think you find top players wherever you can and build around them. We have a goalie, and I think we also have some guys like Cooley or maybe Sergeev in a year or two that can be a back up, but you can also find those guys readily on the FA market.
I think we have quite a few defensive prospects that will make the corps for a while (Parekh, Brusztewicz, Mews, Morin; defensive d-man like Grushnikov, Solovyov, Kuznetsov, Jurmo, Hurtig etc.). There's no shortage of guys with potential in the system, and you only need 6 of them to be good (5 if you include Weegar in the long term plans, 4 if you re-sign Andersson).
I think our wings are well stocked as well: Coronato, Gridin, Basha, Battaglia, Suniev, Kerins, Honzek (if he ever figures things out, but he looked good in preseason). A lot of those guys are 2nd line or worse, no sure fire top line guys just yet.
I think we have centers that are likely middle 6 and lower: Zary, Misa, Stromgren, Morton, Lipinski. Again, no surefire top line guys, but I think Zary will be our 2nd line center and 1 or 2 of those other guys has potential to be an NHLer, but maybe 3rd line at best. We still need to draft more centers.
Here's the thing, if only 30% of those guys even make the NHL, it's okay because we have a ton of draft picks coming up. If we don't like the draft position we have, we can use that draft capital to trade for a young and upcoming center (provided there's a trading partner). The point is there's a lot of options to build a good team, and you just have to see how things play out and then adjust the plan along the way. They have a plan, building from the net out. They need a couple top line forwards in the draft ranks, but some of these guys may yet develop into that.
But to me, having an elite #1 goalie is the lynchpin of a good team. You have that sorted, you're in the conversation. Without it? Good luck building a competitive playoff team.