I wouldn’t sign Barbashev. Search the bargain bin for another Acciari who’s better and cheaper.

The problem with signings like Zucker, Barbashev, Compher etc is that you're doing the thing Vancouver does every year that makes them bad. There's obvious flaws with this team that you can't "sign a middle six guy in free agency" your way out of. You're tying up money needlessly while not really improving the roster with those signings. If you're not improving an already uncompetitive roster, there's no reason to be spending in free agency.

For starters, you need to be selling Barbashev and Accari (and Mikkola) along with O'Reilly and Tarasenko. Those are the kind of depth guys that teams will want and if they're still on the roster after the trade deadline something has gone horribly wrong. Don't screw yourself out of a trade deadline return in order to keep players that are very replaceable in free agency, if it even makes sense to replace them at all.

Returning the same defense + Perunovich - Mikkola isn't going to get the Blues anywhere, especially if Binnington is going to be mired in the .890s-.905s again. Unless one or more of those big money defense guys are moving, or there's a plan that will magically get more out of them without changing the coaching or system, the priority needs to be saving money and giving young players time and opportunity for growth.

That means not signing a bunch of nothing players in their late twenties or older like Zucker and Compher and Barbashev and Accari and pushing your recent first round picks to the 4th line. That's a waste of money and a mishandling of your prospect's development. Pick one or two cheap veterans that you can bring in for two million or less to fill out the bottom six and then stack the rest with our young guys or young reclamation projects. Keep cap space open for when we actually need to use it. Get another high-ish pick and continue the retool.

Pass on Zucker and Compher, man. Barby and Acciari I'd happily take back. And Bolduc will be a winger, not a center.

I like the idea of bringing in 2 forwards in free agency. But on 1 year deals. I wouldn't like to commit money long term. Also can flip guys on a 1 year deal at the deadline if we are not making the playoffs