Quoting: NucksnOilers
What's the answer then? Ride out a goalie who has proven to not be the answer? Find a replacement in Free Agency not promised to work? A move needs to be made desperately that gets this team going, Binnington is the type of gutsy player that we need to have.
I can agree that Binnington may be a worthy target but disagree with how you went about getting him & building out the roster in front of him.
I take issue with the price you paid as you seem to be treating Skinner as a cap dump. Otherwise, giving up a 1st, a younger starting goalie, and two players from the team's already diminished prospect pool is a radical overpayment in my estimation. The highest I'd go is Skinner and a '26 2nd (maybe add a condition that it becomes a 1st if EDM wins the Cup before then).
Next is that your solution occupies an extra 3.4mil of space that I'd rather see used for other purposes. My solution would start by getting Nurse an actual top-4 RD as a partner. One that can skate, defend well, and hopefully can even make a decent breakout pass. The past 5 years has seen him play primarily top pairing minutes with either Ceci, Barrie, and Bear- each of whom suffers from two of three particularly limiting defensive deficiencies: below average skating, poor positioning, or being smaller than average. My main target for that is A. Carrier but there are a decent number of RD upgrades available this offseason who could such a role (one of whom you sign, so we agree there).
Lastly, I take some issue with the particulars of the moves you made. Your choices end up leaving the forward corps both lacking in scoring punch and (somehow) even older than before and it's seemingly because of the extra money you put towards the goaltending. That's the last thing this team needs more of. What they need is an infusion of speed & prime-aged players in the 24-29 range. Players that are both mature and still have the capacity to infuse energy & pace.
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