Quoting: NYRxLundqvist
If Columbus isn't trying to compete what was the point in signing gaudreau and resigning werenski and Laine?
They signed Gaudreau when they thought they had a good roster, which clearly we do not. Plus, and I can't stress this enough, they got him FOR FREE as a free agent. If you can sign a superstar for free, you do that, period. If they'd traded for him it would be a totally different and more comparable scenario.
Werenski is 25. Laine is 24. They are both signed through 2026/27 (and Werenski longer). They'll be just hitting their prime in 4-5 years when the team is actually ready to compete.
Kuzy would be 34-35 and already 2 years past deal expiration. He doesn't help the window like 2023 draft picks might, and the picks you'd get for flipping him at the 2025 deadline wouldn't be ready with the rest of the new core (Werenski, Laine, Johnson, Marchenko, Chinakhov, Jiricek, Mateychuk, Cuelemans, Tarasov, Bedard/Fantili/Carlsson/???, etc.).
The math just ain't mathing.