It really is impressive how he was able to reshape the team and get me excited for the season in early July.
While I really liked the trade with the Hurricanes I did not see any of the big name free agents coming here so I failed to see how the goal scoring improved. I started thinking about Jankowski or Bennett trades but to get Neal on a fairly affordable contract was a great move in addition to the depth he added the day before.
Neal, Lindholm, Czarnik, Ryan in for Ferland, Versteeg, Stajan, Stewart/Glass/Jagr is a fairly sizable upgrade. Going from Hamilton to Hanifin is not a giant downgrade and no futures picks were traded to bolster the lineup. Pulling off a great hockey trade and wining some free agent negotiations really set this team up for next year. Outside of a couple rfa deals all his heavy lifting is done early.
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