I don't see that RF has done the same things at all where he has had options. His moves have nearly all been making this team bigger and nastier to play against. He hasn't tethered himself to Semin, Staal, Staal and Ward at all. That was already done before he took over. He didn't claim to have a big free agent day. As for the public face to put on it, I don't think you're going to accomplish anything by saying what we might all see as the truth. The problem with this team is that we paid way too much money for Staal, Staal, and Semin, and we wish we could take back the Staal-Sutter trade, and Cam is a boat anchor, so we're pretty much sunk.
Gleason is a recycle, but he's big and plays a gritty game, and in the right role, he's a plus.
I don't see much optimism from anyone. What I do see is an understanding that if we're locked into paying big money for Staal/Staal/Semin&Ward, we're not going to accomplish much of anything unless those guys get it done. If they don't, at our budget, it doesn't really matter who else laces em up. The bulk of our money is being spent there, and there is very little that RF can do about that for this season. He has 2 directions to go. First is a firesale, letting our assets go below what is probably even a fair value, and getting rid of at least some of those 4, but that will require either eating big chunks of their contracts, or packaging them with other assets. So, although that route gets you out from under those contracts, it probably damages your prospects for the next few years while only freeing up enough money to replace one or two of those guys with legit top 2 line players. That leaves option 2. You work on what you can, that doesn't tie you into anything long term, that addresses some of the issues you see with the team, that improves the pipeline for the future, and you bring in a new coach, and you somewhat publicly set expectations for your Captain that last year isn't acceptable, and it's true, you put your hopes for a successful campaign on the combination of the new coach and expectations, and the fact that those guys woefully underperformed last season, and it they do play up to their ability, this team is a playoff team.
I'm not seeing anyone optimistic at all, just looking at the limitations of what can be done, and giving RF the benefit of the doubt given the fact that he has no money to spend and his top talent was locked in when he took over. JR would have brought in 2 marginal aging speedy small forwards and one puck moving D, overpaid for them, and traded future assets for them, and signed them to 3 or 4 year deals with NMCs. And drafted Kapanin.
