Quoting: exo2769
I don't envision buying Oshie is a good thing for any team. Especially a rebuilding team. He's more of a final piece rather than a starting rebuilding piece.
Right. Obviously the main value for Eichel, above, is in Hendrix Lapierre, who was predicted to go 4th or 5th overall, last summer, before he got hurt, Vitek Vanecek who is 5th in wins in the NHL right now, Eric Fehervary who had the best corsi of Washington's defensmen last year, in limited action, and a 1st round pick. More could be added. But for a rebuilding team to keep selling tickets, it needs more than just hope for the distant future. It's good to have an Olympic hero who can keep the power play ticking, so there's a chance the team will win each game they play.
But it's also worth noting that, after next year, Oshie earns a it under 14M over the last three years of his contract, and just 9M over the last two years, so if he doesn't retire or go on LTIR, or get claimed by his hometown expansion team, it'd be reasonable to buy out the last two years. Maybe WSH adds a 2nd round pick to cover that risk? What would you add? I think Oshie's risks are less than the reward of still having a center who's playing on a 57 point pace, even if that's not quite as fast as the 58 point pace he scored on last year, or the 64 point pace he scored on the year before that. He's definitely slowing down. But that doesn't mean most of us will ever catch up.