That third line looked great most of last year, why wouldn't it next year? Replace Roose with Gemel Smith (or Elie) for speed and pretty decent metrics and it rides again. Not many third lines with 17 and 14 goal scorers, with another 6 from limited playing time from Smith, especially when Faksa leads in +/-.
I do wish we had a prospect ready for second line duty so we wouldn't have to go after someone else. Spezza worked for a few years, and before that, guys like Turgeon, etc. never did. You pay a lot for a lot of disappointment in most cases, and Hanzel didn't work out either.
Frankly, if Hitch is gone, Hanzel might be gone, too, probably via buy out or retained salary to someone. He really didn't do much for the Wild as their trade deadline acquisition, and most experts thought it a strange move, perhaps motivated by getting Hitch type players.
BTW, on the plus side, do love that we have a D comprised mostly of prime age players, all drafted high (save Methot). May not be the best D over the next few years, but has the right mix of puck carrying (valued by most coaches, not Hitch) and size.