from Adam Gretz at the Sporting News,

Other than getting Eichel and a couple of good players in Kane and O’Reilly, almost nothing else has worked. Now, four years after starting that massive rebuild, the team is in no better shape than it was when it all started.

If anything, you could make the argument the franchise is now in worse shape because of the age of the roster, where almost everybody outside of Eichel and Reinhart is past what is expected to be a player’s peak age for production, and the fact they have already wasted the three cheapest years of their best player (Eichel) under the salary cap. Now they have to try and rebuild — again — around a $10 million per year player, plus the $13.5 million that Okposo and O’Reilly will be making for the next five years as they age into their late 20s and 30s.

Now they have to try and rebuild — again — around a $10 million per year player, plus the $13.5 million that Okposo and O’Reilly will be making for the next five years as they age into their late 20s and 30s.

It’s one thing to cheer for a bad team when you know it’s part of a long-term strategy to rebuild it into something better in the future. It’s another entirely to have to cheer for a bad team that actually tried to put a winner on the ice.

more