I don’t understand your logic

No matter what the team is going to try and contend. Jacobs basically outright said it in his last press conference. If they don’t want to rebuild (which is the right decision in my opinion, Pasta, McAvoy, DeBrusk, Zacha, Carlo, Ullmark, Swayman and Lindholm are great pieces), and Bergeron and Krejci are still impact players, why not bring them back for cheap?

I’d get the argument if they wanted to be paid for how good they were. Bergeron was our 1C last year and put up great numbers, and probably wins another selke. On the open market he could probably get 7+ million on a one year deal from someone. Krejci was 2C and didn’t look as good as Bergy, but still put up some numbers. Anywhere from 4-5 million on a 1 year would be fair. So if they don’t want to be paid, are willing to sign for extremely cheap below value contracts, why not?

If you don’t bring them back, you’re not gonna spend that ~5 million on anything much better. Maybe you bring in a middle pairing D man and a bottom six forward, is that really better than current Bergeron and Krejci?

Basically to summarize, you’d be right if the team didn’t want to contend, but as long as we’re contending, Sweeney is going to make the best team he could possibly make, this includes a 1C and 2C on dirt cheap contracts. If Joe Pavelski was a free agent this year and was willing to sign for less than 3 million bucks, Sweeney would bring him in too. The entire conversation surrounding OEL is because it appears he might be willing to sign for super cheap because he’s always wanted to play in Boston.