Ideally, negative-space would prevent the flood of pre-deadline stuff.
The other point about the impl period itself seems more salient - as Centril as said about himself and his team, (and according to you applies to most (if not all) compiler contributors): compiler contributors already know what they’re working on and what comes next (and they don’t want more busy work).
But that’s just the compiler team. I think guard rails or guidance of some sort could help direct people to areas of rust that are more … in need of love.