Utah general manager Bill Armstrong is making it clear -- there will be no quick fixes in this rebuild.
If you didn't trust Bill Armstrong (and I'm guilty of being one of them), you will.
In his interview with Adam Kimelman of NHL.com Saturday in Buffalo, Armstrong said the draft strategy for the squad will not change for now.
With 13 total draft picks in the upcoming 2024 NHL Draft in two weeks, and armed with 7 more in the first three rounds of next year's draft, it's safe to say Armstrong's a man with a plan.
"We're unique in the sense that we can be pretty adaptable and flexible, and hopefully that creates some good opportunity for us at the end of the day," Armstrong told Kimelman.
And that probably means Armstrong won't do much with the big names out there, including a possible trade for Mitch Marner being on the table.
However, I wouldn't expect too many big splashes from Utah this offseason, even with an announced league-wide salary cap of $88 million set to go into effect July 1.
(More on that coming soon...)
You would expect, however, Armstrong to at least shore up the defence with a couple of short-term rentals, and add one more complimentary top-six forward to take the scoring load off Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller.
Veteran voices are what this young team needs right now, and it's only getting younger with what is coming up in the draft.
But patience is a virtue.
It took Bill Armstrong some trial-and-error to help build a Stanley Cup champion as the assistant GM and director of amateur scouting in St. Louis to Doug Armstrong, and no doubt he's bringing that experience to the upcoming draft.
So let's enjoy the process while it lasts -- you just get the feeling it's not going to be much longer until something amazing happens.