emelin > wideman
emelin >> franson

your 3rd pair now cost you 8 million for worse players. I don't understand that logic

This sounds like an opinion to me. Opinions don't matter-- provide facts. IMO both wideman and franson are a lot better and apparently a lot of GM's feel this same way too. It's why they got bigger contracts.
And one of them would probably move up to second pair every now and then. the coach would probably switch up the bottom four a lot cuz of how stacked they would be-- would be the best defense in the league.

Yes to Nashville resigning Watson and trading for Emelin just to bury them and then spending $8.5M on their bottom pairing. You are hired. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I can't comment on Wideman but Franson is a marginal player at best, I've been to Buffalo games. He's behind the play and slow.
I looked into Vanek and he is a really bad pickup. He is one of the worst 5x5 players in the league, he can only do one thing: offense. I think out of 240 forwards, I read that he was one of the top 5 for getting O-Zone starts. That's a sign of a player that can't be on a contender and can't play the 5x5 game anymore and coaches know it. No one wants him.

According to the above charts:
Thomas vanek is amazing for a third line winger
Franson is amazing for a third line defense
Wideman is capable of being a number 2 defenseman

So I stand by my acquisitions and that they would have the best defense in the league

As a flames fan you do not want Wideman, he turns over the puck, makes poor defensive plays and is slow. He can put up points but more will go in the back of your net with him on your team.

I know but people should be able to tell that just by looking at the chart. That's why coaches would need to play him properly, like offensive zone starts and power play time, and not penalty killing or defensive zone starts.