With Tarasenko signing with Ottawa the official doom and gloom of the front office's supposed refusal to get a top scorer has set in once again.

Myth 1: the FO doesn't improve the team

even ignoring previous off-seasons, lets look at this one.

By all accounts Orlov was the only top end talent available in this year's FA class. Adding top end talent is improving the team. "We dont need more defense" you may say. Defense is our one elite unit on the team but does it hurt to make our elite unit more elite? Orlov is a puck mover who is likely better offensively than allowed to show the last 4 years. He has had to cover for Carlson's defensive issues for a while.

We added Bunting. What has been the one thing that the Canes have been missing the last 3 seasons? A scorer that isn't afraid to go to the net. What is bunting, you ask?

Look at this shot chart from the last 3 seasons. That is very focused on our specific need. He is a top penalty drawing forward who is very agitating. Of course he has some taking dumb penalty warts but his penalty drawing far outweighs his penalty taking. Bunting isnt a playmaker and generally reliant on teammates on making the plays for him to score. What do we have? playmakers.

Add in he was listed in the 2nd tier of players available (behind Orlov) and the models had him projected to get 5.5 million for 4 years. We got him for 4.5 for 3 years.

https://theathletic.com/4529194/2023/05/18/nhl-unrestricted-free-agents-2023-oreilly-bertuzzi/

how are we not improved?

Myth 2: This FO is unwilling to pull the trigger on a big deal

Ill forego the arguments of our attempts to do so over the last years despite other talking heads saying our offers where better or should have won based on results. Dont want to get into any well we didnt win arguments.

So we'll look at other FOs that did or didnt do the big deals.

Toronto: how many moves have they completed over the last 4 years? an absolute ton to try to fill in the roster and make big deadline acquisitions. How many playoff series have they won? 1. just 1. But at least they arent 0-12 in their last 3 ECF appearances over the last 14 years, amirite?

Tampa Bay. the last 4 years they have been fairly aggressive. Lets explore the years before they took their big step.

19-20: acquired cheap depth. eventually won the SC.

18-19: 128 point team, no trades. no big UFA signings that prior offseason. Traded away JT Miller at the draft

17-18: Team lost in the ECF to Washington in 7 games. They traded for McDonough and JT Miller at the deadline. neither were big producers for Tampa Bay.

16-17: finished 5th in Atlantic, made a couple of dump type moves at the trade deadline . No big FA signings.

TB wasn't aggressive at all. They just made the moves they felt was necessary to allow their young players to grow and be ready to compete at the top levels. So one of the best GMs out there Stevie Y, wasnt aggressive until it as time to but somehow the our FO isnt doing this right?

Myth 3: We cant count on our players to improve

https://hockey-graphs.com/2017/03/23/a-new-look-at-aging-curves-for-nhl-skaters-part-1/

https://hockeyviz.com/txt/age22

Jarvis, Svech, and Necas should all see continual improvement of the goal scoring ES and PP as they are in the uptick of offensive production to years of age. Aho is in the general peak year this season.

That isn't including Teuvo likely to return to his normal point numbers.

What about Tarasenko and Nylander?

Tarasenko is abysmal defensively. Nylander's defensive numbers look respectable in this picture. He sold out on offense hard this season to get his points up to 100. His defensive metric for this past season is nearly 50% worse. Factor in Toronto isnt going to move him for a Pesce and Turbo trade, it would require Jarvis or Necas. The 9.5 to 10 million contract that will come with it too.

There is still time for improvement. Just good to see some things never change.