I agree Delly can (and should) continue to develop and improve - especially a smart player with a great ethic, but there are two (or more) sides to everything...
So to pull out some points from the other side:
- a guy who plays full out all the time like Delly does tends to gain an advantage during the regular season, that tends to cancel out in the playoffs when everyone else raises their effort level.
- there's got be some concern about whether Delly can hold up. He's said he plans to build a recovery room in the basement of his new house, and maybe that will make the difference, but he's broken down or worn down both of the last two seasons.
- and while this doesn't sound like Delly at all, there's always a possibility that now that he's cashed in, that he won't be driven the same way he was when playing for league minimum.
But whatever ... we're over the cap and couldn't keep Delly or Timo, and now we need to replace them as best we can and hope other players step-up and take advantage of the freed minutes.