Joe's Reaction of the Week: Offseason Musings
A Dallas collapse could mean a better draft pick. A Guerin gut-punch could crack open the Trocheck market. The Rangers might want both—and can only have one.
If you listened to the podcast this week you know that I just returned from a Disney Cruise this past week, was at a work event the work before, and am getting over some form of cold this week. It's been ... a lot.
Anyway, I don't have a big reaction this week—aside from the fact that I loved the cruise probably more than my children did—but I do have a series of small reactions to do some expanding on.
Which means ... musings! It's my favorite thing to do in the offseason. So let's do it now!
Dallas vs. Minnesota with some Trocheck
I proposed this to Eric on the show this week, and I'm still not sure where I land. Would you rather Minnesota beat Dallas to give the New York Rangers a better confirmed draft pick (Dallas is up 2-1 in that series as of this writing), or would you rather Dallas oust Bill "smartest man in the room" Guerin to maybe push him to be a little looser with the purse strings in a potential Vincent Trocheck trade?
(For context, in the K'Andre Miller trade Carolina gave the Rangers a top-10 protected 2026 first round pick that's conditioned to be the better selection of Dallas or Carolina's first. Carolina is up 3-0 in their series (more on that in a bit) so the only chance at the best outcome at this moment is a Dallas first round loss.
I still lean toward Minnesota winning the series, because a bird in the hand (the better draft pick) is better than two in the bush. But I also can't help but feel that a gut-punch to Guerin wouldn't be the worst thing the world either.
Let's be honest about something here: Not only was Vincent Trocheck the main attraction on the trade market when Chris Drury elected to keep him, he's also morphed into the premier player available this summer. There are no free agents of note outside of a 30-year-old Alex Tuch who is going to command more than $10 million per year. Meanwhile, Trocheck is signed to a ludicrously team-friendly contract that extends for another three years.
