They traded McGinn to add more depth with Galiardi and Winnik. I didn't mind that deal, along with the Moore deal to shore up forward depth lost in the trades with the Wild. On paper this team should be good but there is just no heart.
You can't blow it up either. Besides the fact that they have the worst farm in the league, Thornton and Marleau have NMCs, and I doubt either of them want to leave San Jose. Boyle has a modified NTC. However, how many teams would be interested in Thornton or Marleau, when they are known for not winning the big one? The late round drafting has been worse than it had been in the past (I guess that direct line to Uwe Krupp got cut off) and their first round picks have been traded for the most part:
1997: Patrick Marleau (2nd overall) and Scott Hannan (23rd overall)
1998: Brad Stuart (3rd overall)
1999: Jeff Jillson (14th overall)
2000: None
2001: Marcel Goc (20th overall)
2002: Mike Morris (27th overall)
2003: Milan Michalek (6th overall) and Steve Bernier (16th overall)
2004: Lukas Kaspar (22nd overall)
2005: Devin Setoguchi (8th overall)
2006: Ty Wishart (16th overall)
2007: Logan Couture (9th overall) and Nick Petrecki (28th overall)
2008: None
2009: None
2010: Charlie Coyle (28th overall)
2011: None
Kaspar, Morris and Petrecki are busts and the rest other than Marleau and Couture have been traded or left in free agency (Goc, Hannan). They've traded their last four 1st round picks.
As I established, they can't really rebuild, so they are almost forced to ride it out until the big guys contracts expire.
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