DB is wrong. You MUST overpay for a superstar young 1C if one is available. Just have to. Hold onto Michkov, but everyone else, including a bunch of picks, may have to be sent out to acquire that superstar 1C. Start the rebuild there Danny. If you are not going to let the team lose into the top five of the draft to find one, as you have resisted, and is unlikely as long as Torts is coaching, then the 1C has to come via trade and an overpay.
To rebuild a franchise from the ashes, in any sport, you must first acquire the tentpoles for the rebuild. In football, the quarterback. You overpay to get him. In hockey, the QB is the 1C. You overpay to get him first and foremost.
The starting point is to acquire 3 to 4 superstars to build around. They are they foundation. That is where you start. You do not build around the edges first. You start with studs.
In the case of hockey, you must first acquire a stud elite 1C, perhaps the most important and difficult position to find in the sport. Then, you must find a stud elite goalie, and then a 1D superstar. That is your starting point.
To do this, You don’t start by acquiring a bunch of late first round and second round picks in quantity and hope to get lucky. Those areas of the draft from 15 to 30 are fine for filling in the roster after the studs are first obtained. You overpay, do whatever it takes, to get someone to give up a young 1C for an overpay by you in the trade. Think how they got Lindros. They overpaid, but he was the key starting elite superstar foundation piece. Gotta do it again DB. Right Jonesy? Do the study, make the tough decision, but get that young 1C in here now to match up with Michkov. Gotta do it Danny. I one is available, jump on it hard and fast.