That's probably it.

I just don’t buy the “winning culture” narrative as much as most. I think it can help on the edges, but teams with the most talent get labeled with good culture because they win. The wings haven’t made the playoffs since 2016, any winning culture is long gone. Finishing 4th from the bottom or 12th from the bottom isn’t impacting it either way.

When I say they pulled the plug early it is because it was clear that they hadn’t yet acquired enough elite talent at the top of the draft to compete at a truly elite level. Seider and Raymond are great players, and Kasper, Cossa, Edvinsson look like they’ll play meaningful NHL hockey, but they needed a true 1C. They would have been far better served biting the bullet on one more year of serious pain and bringing in a Fantilli, for example.

They went the other way and brought in a number of mid-tier free agents that weren’t going to get you to the playoffs, but were also going to keep you from the truly elite level prospect they needed. In my opinion it was a mistake then, and I still think it was. Currently, they look like a team headed for the mushy middle without some creative maneuvering to acquire the type of talent they will need.

On your team though, McIsaac doesn't get a contract. He's playing in Europe or something. I doubt he gets tendered a qualifying offer.
Berggren doesn't really deserve that much money, I think he gets a bit extra but that's quite a bit. Could work out really well if he plays well. The risk might be worth it.
Johansson doesn't get that much, can likely get him on a two year deal for under a million.
Lindholm isn't signing a one year deal, not at his age.
Duchene likely gets that offer at least in Dallas and stays there.
You were complaining about the big contracts to not great players then sign 30 year old Skjei to a big 6 year deal and 32 year old be Hakanpaa to a 3 year deal. Nothing against those players but those deals won't agree well at all.
Giving up a first, even if there is questionable cap attached, for a 34 year old goalie is also not great.

It all looks bad at present value until you see Hronek do nothing for half a season and realize you have to remember the future, and thankfully Yzerman does.

The Berggren deal I went on the higher side for the term. Sure he could sign a 2 year deal around $1.4m or so, but since I expect him to outplay that contract, he’d likely command double or triple on his next contract. The 3 year deal at a higher AAV gives us leverage in that 2nd or 3rd year to not only have a cheap quality player but also a value trade chip.

I’m not trading a 1st round pick for Markstrom; I am trading a 1st round pick for a 50% retained Markstrom whilst dumping Chiarot & Husso’s contracts. Not to mention the 1st rounder came from Carolina in the Walman & Veleno deal. So ultimately if I can move Walman, Chiarot & Husso’s contracts at the expense of Joe Veleno and a couple 2nd round picks while solidifying our goaltending at a low dollar amount until Cossa is ready, I am doing that. Besides, what better veteran goaltender could we add than a guy who Cossa very naturally projects so similarly to.

Hakanpaa I love. There are a few players in this league who are overlooked and are quite simply “role” players and they fit them to a tee and I am very endeared to those types of players; Garnet Hathaway is one of those guys and Hakanpaa is another. What you see is what you get with him and he does what he’s asked to do, a big body, physical and I think he’d be perfect next to Edvinsson. He deserves every penny of that deal at a measly $2.5m.

The Skjei deal, admittedly wasn’t my favorite option. I think he is a fine player and next to Seider he’s a legitimate top pair defenseman. My preference/goal would be to somehow pry away Jonas Brodin from Minnesota albeit probably unrealistic. I flirted with the idea of packaging Wallinder & the 15oa pick for him but decided to keep as many assets in our back pockets to potentially make a big move at the deadline or the following season and elected to go the FA route.

Bro we need to stop saying the same exact things, people are gonna think we’re the same person using burner accounts. 😂 I agree with every single word you have said.

For what feels like the millionth time: not sure Hawks would have any interest in Fabbri but they certainly wouldn’t pay anything for him.

😂 I realize I (we?) am in the minority on those opinions. But, I do feel they missed an amazing opportunity to do the rebuild the right way. Yzerman had as much rope as any GM in the league to hang out at the bottom until you built a young core that could be dominant for a decade.

They finally got to a special draft class with 3 centers sitting at the top and they accelerated when they should have braked. It is what it is now, there’s more than one way to build a championship team. But it’s going to take some very shrewd maneuvering in the trade market and in free agency. We’ll see what he does.

CHI is not paying for Fabbri.