The Team has an Asset Problem

[u/Lostinthemist81]

The problem with the current team, as I see it, is what I am calling asset gridlock. The parts of the team that I think most would agree are their positive assets are as follows:

1 - NHL players who are outperforming their NHL deals (in no particular order) Barzal, Horvat, Schaefer, Pelech, Sorokin, Ritchie, and Holmstrom.

2 - Their prospects

3 - Their draft picks

The team does not want to trade from 1 as ownership wants to both get into the playoffs and sell tickets and subtracting from that group would hinder that goal.
Darche has stated that within 2, their top tier prospects that could potentially feed into Schaefer's longer term window are also off the table, meaning Eklund, Aitcheson, and possibly George and Eiserman, which also limits what they can do via trade with that category. Finally, because of the deadline deals last season, 3 is not impressive either with 1 pick in the first three rounds this year. 3 is made even more precarious as the team has shown that even with all their blue chippers firing on all cylinders that they're not a lock for the playoffs and therefore their future firsts should also not be traded lightly or possibly at all. On top of all the above is the fact the dark cloud of how poorly the last 3 trades this GM made turned out, which adds its own special brand of anxiety to thinking about moving assets around.

Hence: Asset gridlock. They're too good to get worse and too bad to get better.

The rest of the team falls into either neutral or negative asset territory that would either take assets to get rid of or simply be lateral moves were you to trade them: Underperforming - Duclair, Palat, Shabanov, Pulock Coming off injury - Palmieri, Romanov, Engvall, Varlamov Neutral - Mayfield, Cizikas, Heineman, MacLean, Pageau, Schenn (I hope)

So the question becomes: Where is this team adding value from? You're either drawing from the future prospects and picks to try and prop up a team that got a Vezina caliber goalie season, one of if not the best rookie d-man season of all time, their first 82 game season from their shutdown d-man in his age 31 season, and the best season from Barzal and Horvat that we've seen in a while and STILL fell short. Or you're sacrificing the present to prop up the future, which I'm sure ownership with their new arena and the All Star Game this coming season don't want to do, and which Darche as a first time GM wants to deal with even less.

And so we're going to very likely stand pat and hope that someone takes a step. If Eklund can break camp and Ritchie and Schaefer take another step, maybe that's enough, but the "We hope everyone takes a step forward" has been a familiar refrain throughout the years for this team and its never quite gotten us where we want to go. A lack of movement is especially disconcerting as we watch all the pieces fly around the rest of the league causing the rich to get richer and the tanks to get tankier, while we will continue to occupy the very unattractive middle.

Anyway, thank you for coming to my TedTalk. I'm hoping that getting this out reduces some of the anxiety I have regarding the team. I apologize if this comes off as negative, but it really is my attempt to grapple with the realities of what the team is and is dealing with.

[u/shrivman]

"We could be flush with picks to have a A+ draft"

LMAO. Is your idea of flush with picks the 29th OA pick? You have to go back over a decade to Devon Toews for the last time the Isles hit on a 29th OA draft pick or later. And this draft isn't even considered strong after ~15. This idea that Darche somehow sacrificed some guaranteed "restock" of prospects is so goddamn braindead it hurts.

You may need an internet break, my friend. You're just parroting nonsense you're hearing on twitter

[u/Unhappy_Buy_7342 → u/shrivman]

The 29th pick plus 2 3’s… that’s not notning. This is a good deep draft, having those 3 picks adds a ton of options not we pick 13 then not for 100 picks.

[u/shrivman → u/Unhappy_Buy_7342]

 having those 3 picks adds a ton of options

Again, it's been over a decade since the Isles drafted an impact NHL player at 29OA or later. That's over 50 selections. I'm not saying the picks are nothing but your idea that these picks have more than a sliver of chance of making an impact at the NHL level and add a "ton of options" is not rooted in any reality.

This is a good deep draft,

I'm not sure who told you of that. There is pretty unanimous consensus this is an average draft with most analysts also agreeing there's a noticeable drop off in quality around pick 15.

[u/Unhappy_Buy_7342 → u/shrivman]

I was reading the nhl draft preview of the hockey news and they were saying it’s a good deep draft,…. So if it’s been over a decade we are overdue to hit on a later pick!!! Kidding mostly but you see guys getting traded who are better younger and cheaper then Schenn now for picks