Irie
Registered User
I wish the endless hand wringing would stop already; Pesce isn’t coming here because of his NTC. It doesn’t matter what he offers Carolina if Pesce can just block it.
Hanifin is a lefty and isn’t know to be great defensively when not paired with a Tanev type.
What other Top 4 guys are even being talked about?
Clifton works for this year; EJ is here for experience and Clifton will get a legit shot at 2RHD and even if he falls short, he may still be better than what we had as well highly effective as our 3RHD next year.
Some of you guys would never be happy regardless of what KA did.
Well said, but I honestly have a feeling that everyone is actually reading Adams wrong - on both sides of this argument.
This board overwhelmingly wanted a top 4 permanent solution for that 2RHD position, but I think as we are seeing, acquiring one is not easy. Adams sniffed around, decided he couldn't get one, and went with a solid patch-work solution of bolstering the third pairing, which was by and far the bulk of the problem last year.
People wanted to blame Joker, because playing 20-22 minutes a night with heavy PK minutes, he was an easy target, but it could just as easily have been said that if there was a solid third pairing playing 16-17 minutes a night, the other pairings would have had heavily reduced work load, which likely would have solved a lot of the other problems.
Adams Addressed that issue with the depth he signed, and in doing so, he really just kicked the long-term 4RHD problem down the road, which I think he absolutely is aware of, but he is also acutely aware that there is a good chance that 1/3 of the team he ices this upcoming season will be in just their first or second full NHL seasons. That alone puts perspective on expectations.
I think he is still willing to wait and let the kids develop, but he learned his lesson that not having solid depth or physical element on the roster can lead to negative experiences for these kids in their learning process.
I still do not feel that anyone in the front office is of the mindset that it is playoffs or bust this season. They just want to continue to see solid growth from the kids and once they are further along, selling the farm for those final pieces will make a lot more sense then trying to acquire them now when the bulk of the team is still far from hitting their prime.