immediately, it's a cup contender. LW is maybe a bit weak but defense is so good it probably doesn't matter.

one season later...yikes. 10 players come up and they're mostly stars. even with a big cap increase to the TV deal it looks bad. at least 8m for pietro (comparable to carlson deal). 6m+ for labanc, who's on an unprecedented "win us a cup and i'll pay you" deal. dadonov gets first line money. josi probably asks for the same money pietrangelo gets. tierney gets a modest raise or holds out in FA (he's arbitration eligible).

we're talking around $15-20m in raises with $7m in cap space. dahlin and the entire second line need new contracts in year three with all that new money tied up. this team is good now but lacks cost-controlled assets with term to move up when the team moves on from its quality non-core players.

It's not built for long-term success