If you were to go back and read everything I’ve ever written, a pretty clear picture would take shape about how I think NHL clubs should be built, and it’s a stance that’s been echoed by Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas. Here, I’ll lay it out in its entirety: get the best players you can get. I’ll wait for you to recover from fainting before going on.



You good? OK, cool.



The point there isn’t to be condescending, or act like it’s easy, but that’s kind of what it boils down to. What I basically mean is, if you’re building a team, it’s never made sense to me to simply try to fill the cliché hockey boxes. It used to be every team needed a tough guy. You needed skill guys in your top-six. You needed checkers in your bottom-six. You needed a number one D (points guy) and a 6D (very tough). It’s as if every team were handed a checklist from the league for a player scavenger hunt, and if you collected...