Tariq El-Bashir

Morning, guys.

Honestly, I was caught off guard a little bit.

You know, this is...

Chris's third year as GM.

And, and to this point, he's been, he's been pretty conservative.

Um, you know, they did make some aggressive moves last year, trying to get Nikolai Ehlers before he ended up signing with Carolina.

I think they actually thought they had a deal with them or were closing in on the deal with him.

And he, he, um, he chose to go to Carolina.

Of course, when a Stanley cup, I'm sure he's not sad about his decision.

Uh, they also went after our Timmy for Aaron, um, uh, during the season and, and weren't able to get him before he went to LA.

Um, uh,

So I feel like he went into this offseason really determined to upgrade his top six forward core.

I thought they were going to make a move.

They went out and got Jordan Cairo.

I had heard his name connected to the Capitals a few times late last season, and I was like, okay, all right, that's a pretty strong move.

And then they went out and got Alex Suck, and I was like, wait a minute, what is going on here?

And then they've kept making trades ever since.

I mean, they made another trade, sending Hendrix LaPierre to the rival Penguins.

They sent Declan Chisholm to New Jersey last night for some draft picks.

I mean, hats off to Chris Patrick.