sandysensfan wrote: spader wrote:Is anyone else concerned? The Stars traded for Jason Spezza, but they haven't signed him to an extension. It's clear that this was a desperation move that's spiralling out of control.
I for one believe this is a sign that the ownership simply isn't willing to spend. Columbus already re-signed Dubinsky and the Blackhawks got two of their 9 potential UFAs already locked up. This is an outrage and it's obvious that Gaglardi doesn't appreciate his fans.
If he didn't want to re-sign Spezza, then why bother trading for him?
Woe is me!
So you like to make fun of people who's opinions don't happen to agree with yours.
FYI, the Owner in Dallas will spend to make his team competitive. They have a good young core already and signed a player Spezza can play with in Hemsky. So they won't hesitate to sign Spezza and they are competitive enough for Spezza to want to stay there because they have a good chance of making the playoffs and who knows what happens when they get there.
BTW right now they are spending almost 10M more on their roster than Ottawa is right now which makes for a more competitive team.
You can't say Ryan is in the same situation as Spezza right now in way of being on a playoff contender.
FYI, we were a team in decline from 2008 to 2011, when we finally accepted that we needed a new core and shipped out Fisher and Kelly (Spezza should have went at this time too, but that's another matter). 2011-12 was supposed to be a painful reboot year that we actually ended up surprising and making the playoffs. The same miracle happened in 2012-13 (to me, that's what happens when you subtract Spezza, but that's another matter). But the facts were always that we rebuilding that core and everyone knew it was going to take time to establish that new core and new identity. It's easy to forget, too, that we remain one of the youngest teams out there (7th).
If you look at how LA did what they did, it was pretty similar. They were a bad to mediocre team for a long while. They didn't spend to the cap. They drafted well, developed well, and their core took shape over time. They traded well, too, and they largely avoided the UFA market like the plague. You can't build a new team around a new core if you don't allow that core to take a lead role. If you believe in Karlsson, Cowen, Turris, Lehner, Zibanejad, Stone, etc etc., then they have to PLAY and they have to play meaningful minutes. Every dollar spent on a roster spot that pushes these guys down the roster potentially stalls their development and reduces their role. You can't have it both ways -- viz, building that new core AND loading up your team with high-paid hired guns. At some point, the kids have to play. That was the decision the organization made in 2011.
I get wanting to win now, but what we did in 2011 signalled that we as an organization accepted that we weren't close and had to start again. We could have lied to ourselves (TOR) or spent to the hilt to mask it (NYR), but we didn't and we were, to me, smart not to. Early successes fooled our fan base into forgetting all about the fact that we had hit the reset button in 2011.
Spending money for the sake of spending money isn't a foolproof solution, isn't always smart, and isn't the only measure of a desire to win. If the team balks at spending money on the core it's been building, then our owner can go Diddle himself. But I don't see not spending right now as a major crisis: it sucks to hear, but most rebuild plans are 5 year things. We're just transitioning from year 3 to 4 right now. And this is the year if we find out if we put our faith in the right horses.
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