Desiato wrote:The deals are fair. Obviously those players have a lot of value right now.
I don't blame the Hawks. At a business level, it's a no-brainer.
It may hurt at a hockey level for a couple of years, but probably no more than drama and/or making significant changes would have.
I much prefer the way that the hawks seem to be approaching their championship windows than the penguins. Granted the hawks have some cap circumventing contracts that the penguins dont and the crawford contract is a mess, but they seem more willing to embrace change and a retooling period.
I know it's not an apples to apples comparison, but the hawks have seemed more proactive about upcoming cap issues. They've used bolland, ladd, versteeg and byfuglien to add youth to the depth chart and been better about getting young guys into the lineup and in positions to succeed. Their worst case scenario looks like having to move Saad as an RFA with value high enough to allow them to dictate the ideal return in terms of NHL experience, prospects or draft picks. Plus i'm sure they wont have trouble moving someone like hjmaarlson or bickell if needed to.
On the other hand, the penguins have let Niskanen walk for nothing and will likely let martin walk for nothing next offseason, at the same time locking up older players like kunitz and dupuis. The Staal and Neal trades look more reactive than proactive to me. A stupid analogy would just be something like the Penguins are just doing their best to steady the ship and avoiding and change if possible.