Garth does not agree with this and this, and with my endorsement of the two:
Respectfully the three of your are out of your minds. San Jose got better. They’re not as big a threat as a year ago? They’ve taken two of three this year and have just gotten better than they were when they beat us two years in a row. Nashville isn’t as good as Detroit in any of those categories? They’ve improved their PK, the didn’t need to improve their PP because it’s already the best in the league, and they added depth to their top AND bottom six forwards AND their defense. Detroit lost depth at defense and doesn’t have depth at forward. There are 4 top six forwards and nine bottom six. Who’s after that? And Vancouver? Well, JJ’s right about Vancouver because unless a lot of our players start playing a lot better then a match up in the WCF is a pipe dream.
And this BS about Gaustad? No, we wouldn’t win the Cup BECAUSE of him, but guess what? We didn’t win the Cup in 2008 BECAUSE of Stuart, but at the same time? Without him? We probably don’t win. It’s called addressing needs.
Quincey was a nice pick up but he didn’t address a specific need. Our defense was already pretty solid, it’s our forwards that needed help. Mursak, Emmerton, Holmstrom? How much ice time do you think they get in the playoffs? And that lack of ice time is going to put extra strain on the other three lines who are going to have to take up the slack.
First off, I don’t buy the argument that the Sharks are that much better this year. I don’t know how things will shake out in the end, but currently, they’re in the middle of the pack fighting for mastery of their own division. That is not particularly intimidating. Their edge seems to me to be more psychological than practical, and the Wings’ recent win over them was a good step in the direction of beating that.
As for Nashville, I do maintain that if the Wings can’t beat a Predators team that added Gaustad, they wouldn’t have been able to beat them with Gaustad themselves. They have a talent superiority up and down their lineup to Nashville and have larger issues than just one player if they can’t win that matchup. The special teams issues are a rut more than anything that would be fixed by a single addition. No denying that the Predators improved themselves, but the Wings were far enough ahead of them to begin with that I’m not losing sleep over it.
There is no need so pressing yet finely-defined on this team that one addition—or even two—would make a difference. This team has an assortment of tools that should be world-beating. Adding a Gaustad or even a Pahlsson to that at those market prices would have been little if any real gain.
As you say, “unless a lot of our players start playing a lot better then a match up in the WCF is a pipe dream.” I don’t think you’ll get much argument about that. I just see that specifically as the problem, not the lack of action on the trade deadline front for the Wings.