To 
:C Joe Thornton, $7m (2013-2014)
LW/RW Ryane Clowe, RFA, $0m this year
G Harri Sateri, $m (P-n/a)
Round 3, Pick 1
To 
:LW Chris Kreider, $0.2m (P-n/a)
D Simon Despres, $0.2m (P-14/15)
C Brock Nelson, $m (P-n/a)
G Mark Visentin, $0.2m (P-n/a)
Round 1, Pick 10
:It took a while of back and fourth to get this one done and sealed.
Obviously continuing with getting younger and hopefully competitive for down the road for
.
Some of the reasoning that got it done was within the draft picks:
The first round and half of our
second round is all 1st Round draft picks in this year's actual NHL draft....
Basically all our draft picks in our league are 1st and 2nd round picks - all great prospects. So even my 3-1 pick is at worst the 10th pick in the 2nd round of the NHL draft.
Add in a couple teams picking up other prospects and players with 39 or under NHL games played, and it could viably be a top 5 2nd round NHL pick from this year's draft, or even a late 1st rounder if teams like other unclaimed prospects.
is going for it this year, so Thornton and Clowe help out their cause huge. Thornton's contract (re-sign) will go down next year too, easing the cap, and Clowe is a reasonable contract, especially for his dual wings and given how he did with NYR this year after the trade from SJ.
Kreider and Despres still need some more seasoning to fully fulfil their potential, and I can wait for that. Nelson hopefully can be a part of that young group in NYI that is up and coming. Hopefully he can find a spot though, as they are stacked at C with Strome coming up as well and ahead in the depth charts. We'll see how that plays out. And with Visintin, I can wait for him. All experts say he needs at least 2 more years in the AHL to grow into a pro game, and it's not like they need him with Mike Smith as their man, so he's also a work in progress.
Again, it's a case of a team going for the championship (
), versus a team going for it in 2-3 years (
) (or more, haha).
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