Not Sure This Team Is An Improvement

I hope they don't trade Vilardi

I don't see any trade for PLD that doesn't include Vilardi. Like I said, I don't think this team is an improvement.

Personally, I'd rather try to get Hellebuyck.

Your title is 1,000% right. Dubois sticks out on this roster like a sore thumb, requiring major adjustment of the bottom three lines. (We could put him at #2 LW but why do that for one season?)

We took some steps forward this year despite the fact that we didn't get past Edmonton in the first round again -- Vilardi showed that he's top-6 quality, Arvidsson had another good year (59 points at RW in 1317 minutes vs. Dubois' 63 points at C in 1350 minutes, at 70% of the cost), Fiala showed that he's the real deal in his first year with us, as not all new arrivals do, and Kupari, Kaliyev and Lizotte showed real promise.

I can go along with the idea of renting Connor Hellebuyck, especially if the price is not too high, but I'm not a believer in the Duboissiah theory.

The choice to remove 3 good roster players to get Dubois is the problem. According to LA fans half of the prospects are untouchable. This roster looks a lot better with Vilardi on it, and possibly another good winger. Nino Neiderider could be had with 50% retention, for example.

The question is whether you actually want to go for it this year, or just kinda see what happens and let your window pass you by the way the Jets did.

How can the window pass us by when our prospects are under 30 and maturing, as opposed to the Jets, whose veterans were aging? With the exception of Kopitar and Arvidsson, whose contracts are expiring, the only players on the roster for 2024-2025 who will be in their thirties are Doughty, Danault and Iafallo (if in fact he's still there).