It's hard to articulate this exactly, but IMO the issue is that this team's offensive identity is inextricably linked with Johnny Gaudreau. Whether he wants to be or not, he's always going to be 'the guy' [that stirs the drink], and it's just about impossible to change that.
For the most part, that's pretty fun from October-March, but it simply doesn't work past April. In the absence of something better, I completely understand the reluctance to move on from this kind of game breaking talent. We now have something better - we've struck gold in Tkachuk and Lindholm, and we need to hand the reins fully over to them.
30 other teams would love to have Gaudreau on their team, but very few of them would be willing to pay a substantial price for him. He's an elite complimentary player for a team with a strong identity (NAS, PIT), a marketable star for a team craving elite talent (CLB), or a great value contract for an overloaded cap crunch team that just doesn't have the right mix (PHI, TOR). There's a number of other teams that could fit the bill, but I think a mutually beneficial trade will have to involve lots of players, or maybe 3 teams.
|