NCBufFan

What if they grab asplund or Thompson?

What? Voodoo isn't a good reason not to hire a coach? 🤣

I don't understand when people only work in absolutes. You make it seem like we should never sign a free agent again because they don't always work out. Maybe a long term deal on a big Ufa is a bad move, but we haven't done that since Okposo. We have assumed young players were ready to make the jump and had it explode spectacularly in our faces consistently too. There should be a middle ground here to explore a proven Top 6 option (not top of the market) but also roll the lines out more evenly ice time wise to keep the kids playing.

If you want VO to play as a top 6 forward he needs to be able to score more consistently at 5 on 5. He scores, but more than half of his goals come on the PP. He can easily play on the 3rd on 4th line and still score the same amount on the PP if you keep him. the problem becomes in how much he'll cost in the short term to be borderline bad at 5 on 5 and very good at the PP. Don't you want to upgrade your top 6? Bottom 6 is much easier to fill.

Most definitely. I'm a strong believer in analytics as a tool and in using them to try to hit on good players. It doesn't mean they are always correct though and they need context applied to be used effectively.