On the note of Hackett, he has been incredible. He has won multiple awards:
- 3 Vezina's
- 3 Conn Smythe's
- 2 Jennings (missing out on 2 by 3 goals or less)
Only big FA signing I have made is Stamkos for 8 million a season (and Letang, but that was to make up for losing OEL and staying above the cap floor), and other than that I've made no huge trades other than just moving older uneeded guys for later round picks. Most of my value has come from the draft, prospects already in the system, or smaller FA signings that have turned out great (Coyle, Vatanen). Here's my roster heading into 2021/2022
Max Jones (1st round 2016) - Steven Stamkos - Charlie Coyle
Max Domi - Connor McDavid (1st round 2015) - Mikael Bodker
Brandon Perlini - Nolan Patrick (1st round 2017) - Anthony Duclair
Carl Hagelin - Gleb Berezovsky (7th round 2017) - Maxim Letunov
Boone Jenner/Kyle Palmeri
Sami Vatanen - Kris Letang
Zach Werenski (Didn't sign in TBL after college) - Brandon Gormley
Parker Wotherpoon (3rd round 2015) - Timothy Liljgren (2nd round 2017)
Matt Finn
Matt Hackett
Callum Booth (1st round 2015)
Currently sitting at about 58 million cap of the 69 million. Team still bleeds money though, but not as bad since we started winning. When we started we had about 3 cash infusions a year, now we have had 1 in 3 years. Try to keep the cap low, but a lot of it is taken up by Stamkos (8 million), McDavid (6.5 million), and Letang (7.1 million). Having 8 guys under the age of 25 sort of helps keep the cap down. Don't think I'll be able to keep this roster for much longer, but hopefully the turnaround on Stamkos' and Letang's contract will make the cap I need available.
Though I haven't really seen any superstar picks between 2017-21 drafts, have actually had a few top picks from teams still in the AHL at 22/23/24. Wish there were more superstars at the top of drafts