Quoting: MJ87
K I took Bouchard McLeod Benson and Yamamoto out and replaced them with the best internal options. IMO it’s a weaker roster by a large margin.
Well, no doubt it would be.
That's the fun part about Armchari GMing. You learn pretty quick that you can't really just go off trading players without opening holes in the lineup.
How signing certain players to more than theyre worth, or even for fair value, will limit your options someplace else.
Khaira needs to be here. He's cheap, he can play in the lineup every night, he's physical, he can chip in some offense.
Brodziak needs to be here simply because he's better than what you have down in the AHL, cheap, gone at the end of the season, and can serve as 4th line C without too much of a downside.
Gagner is severely overpaid, but he's gone at the end of the year. Can he give you better minutes than your AHL options that need to stay down there and develop (Pulju, Yama)? Yes.
Everything is a puzzle that needs to fit into a mold (salary cap). Size of pieces dictated by AAV. Too many overpaid players = forced to ice lower quality options because that's all you can afford.
Consequently, you still have 2.8m to play with. Get some veteran grinders (Bellemare, Boyle type players) and sign them to a 1 year overpay (if you have a strong rookie next year like McLeod).
No harm done because their contract is gone at season's end anyway.