And one more thought about Markstrom.
I've become more and more amazed with Hughes as the season goes on. Consider him the teams MVP, should win the Calder and realistically a future top 5 dman in the league. It's crazy to think him and Pettersson are both 20 and give every early indication that if they stay health can be future Hockey Hall of Famers. The core of a team that can challenge for a Stanley Cup from 2022 to 2032.
I can't think of any recent teams that had a young centre, dman combo like this allowing them a 10 year window to compete for the SC if managed right. To keep the window open that long, they can't think in terms of this year, or even 3-4 year window and sell off picks and prospects for vets. They'll need to keep pretty much all of them to keep their salary cap low. That's going to mean trading free agents for prospects and keeping the prospect pipeline full. Playing the long game and resisting temptation to win now. And must do one thing Benning has not shown himself capable of. Not loading up long term contracts on 30+ year old players.
So Markstrom is nice to keep now, but 3-5 years out not good. This is exactly the kind of tough decision the team will need to make for the next 12 years If Hughes, Pettersson develop as expected we could be in for a Detroit, Boston, San Jose kind of run of being a contender every year for a decade. (I'm getting a semi as I type this)