Man I feel your pain, when CHI fans were trading him for a pair of second round pick I was losing my mind. He is soooo bad in the defensive and neutral zone it's ridiculous

Niskanen retiring is a majot issue. Love the youth on the blueline, but they need a minute munching vet to set a tone- and Braun isn't it.

Guftasson signing was nothing short of a head scratcher. Luckily, it's short term.

Josh Manson would look good, but it also log jams development.

Logjams development I disagree with. You've got Hagg and Braun and Ghost on the D Corps yet. If Cam York or Zamula are going to be NHLers in 1-2 years are they going to play over ANY of Provy, Sanheim, Myers, and whatever piece they would add? Not likely. They're going to have a year or two to learn and become established before they start pushing their way up the depth chart. I 'm adding talent now to make this team a true contender while they're still getting the last good years of production from the aging core (G, Jake, JVR, Hayes, Coots), plus the emergence of the young core (TK, Provy, Myers, Sanheim, Lindblom, Patrick). They have a good mix, they just need another piece on defense honestly, I think that would solve so many issues and I'm not worrying about if this team being a true Top-5 NHL team by adding another good defenseman is going to cost future assets or block Cam York from getting 16 minutes a night on the 3rd pair instead of a top-4 role in 2024. Their time is now if they want to see this era have one last shot at getting the job done. Also not giving any thought to expansion...if you've gotta protect 4 D, then do it and protect G, Coots, TK and Lindblom. Trade a 1st rounder if you wanna protect Patrick and let Seattle take NAK and that's a win in my book...or they take Jake or JVR in which case, fine too. I'm not bagging on either guy, I just don't see them as essential pieces of this team in 2-3 years so oh well if we lose them and their huge cap hits this summer


Two words: Alex Goligoski. Expiring term. Check. Vet? Check. Plays top 4 minutes with high effectiveness? Check. Cost effective in terms of assets? Check again.