Manning started the season as the 7th D-man, Lehtera as the 13th forward, Ghost as the PP QB and 2nd pair D-man. Big difference.
Laughton and Leier were given every chance to carve out a bigger role, Weal was handed a 3rd line job. All failed to impress.
Not every young player steps up, some are going to struggle for a year, some are going to earn themselves a new address.
The guys who are part of the future core have stepped up, the others are going to soon be pushed out by newer prospects.
And people exaggerate the upside of some players - NAK has had a solid year in the AHL, but right now he's a bottom six prospect, before you talk about him being a scorer, let him show next year he belongs in the NHL playing 10-12 minutes a night, if he shines, he'll get more TOI. Looking at his career so far, he's a solid prospect, but nothing special - and when you talk top six for a contending team, you're talking special talents.
Myers may be a top 4 D-guy in a couple years, but I think he's behind Sanheim in his development and Sanheim is just now settling in.
MV is meh, Knight is probably as good, 2 years older but with NHL experience. Neither more than 4th line filler right now.
Vorobyev has a real shot at being a solid bottom 6 center, but I don't see the skating that would make him a top six talent right now.
Morin and Stolarz have to get healthy.
Martel came back to earth, he's a younger version of Varone.
There's a lot of talent coming up, but most of it is 1-3 years away from playing a significant role.