To put it simply, the fans are in a state of disbelief what has happened to their championship team.
Mounting financial pressures, a lack of young talent in Dayton's prospect system and no promising draft picks to look forward to led GM Bill Corfield to some hard decisions. Big name players were dealt, young players with attractive upsides were brought in, especially on offense, and payroll was cut. Dayton now holds 37 draft picks over the next two draft, which puts them just behind Siberia in that regard.
Dayton's payroll sits at $80 million with $24.5M in additional cash outlays for this coming season. That's $44 million dollars less in salaries than last season and next year's payroll looks to be even lower, with projections another $30 million less for the 2018-19 team payroll coming in at just under $48 million dollars.
Dayton, if nothing else, should see its financial circumstances turn around significantly after the next two seasons.
As training camp wrapped up over the last few days, the last significant move saw veteran sniper Phil Kessel and young defensemen Igor Provorov sent to the Minnesota Norsemen for winger Sebastien Aho, prospects Thomas Chabot, Joseph Woll and Luc Snuggerud. Dayton also sent $5M in cash to the Norsemen to offset some of Kessel's costly contract.
"Every move we've made over the last month has been to secure the next era of great hockey in Dayton," said Corfield.
The Daily News projects the team to finish in 9th place in the Corfield Conference, possibly in the mix for a lottery pick.
On the Ice:
*Team captains and alternates have been announced. Nate MacKinnon and Alexsander Barkov will split the captain's duties this season and will alternate each game. Each will also serve as an alternate captain when not the actual captain.
Jason Pominville and Marc Methot will wear "A's" this season.
*Starting lines for tonight's season opener:
Mackinnon, Guentzel, Drouin
Barkov, Vanek, Aho
Monohan, Upshall, Pominville
Ryan, Larkin, Guentzal
Defensive pairings:
Tyutin/Irwin
Stuart/Beauchemin
Methot/Wiercioch
Starting goalie:
Elliot/Smith
*The Musicmen open their 17-18 regular season with three games on the road (FOR, SEA & DRT) before returning to Dayton for their home opener on Saturday, September 9th when the Parry Sound Orrsmen make their debut visit to the Soundstage.
*THEY SAID IT: "Look, we've got some of the best young forwards in the game. We've got some great dmen coming in a year or two. We'll be busting our ass every game and sticking together. We have to pay this price tag to earn the next step we all want to take. We know we're not the best team in the league anymore..." (Jason Pominville)
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