Yeah, this is not a one year fix but I am surprised at some of the comments. I think bringing in Stepan and Hjalmarsson were necessary moves to start the ship in the right direction. Cant be gutting the team leadership (Doan, Tippett, Smith And Hanzal) and expect 21 year old Domi to lead the way.
Best case scenario (as I have said in a few threads now) is a TML style renaissance and the team improves by leaps and bounds. Strome and Keller are Calder candidates, Domi enters into legit 1st line LW category, Dvorak/Perlini/Crouse et al continue to improve, OEL dominates and is back in Norris contention, and Raanta proves to be a legit starter goalie. A LOT to hope for.
Realistically, to get into playoff contention you are talking about a 70 goal differential turnaround. I think they will be better offensively. I think they will be challenged to stop goals against. Entertaining hockey but not necessarily winning hockey.