Eh...it's nice that we've got some promising young defencemen in the mix here. But realistically...none of them really project as top-pairing/top matchup defencemen.
Hutton has mostly just drowned under tougher matchups. He's still fairly young and developing, but the defensive savvy just doesn't really seem to be there. Appears far more within his element in softer matchups.
Stecher is more stable defensively, but his size is always going to be a bit of a liability when it comes to matching up against opposing top forwards - especially bigger/heavier top forwards.
Tryamkin brings an important physical element and can be an imposing presence, but i think his footspeed probably always holds him back from being a prime matchup defenceman. Though perhaps with the right partner (ie. A Tanev)...he can get to a serviceable place in that regard.
I don't think you can outright black Gudbranson out of this picture either. I think some people are getting a bit overly carried away with a 30 game sample of Gudbranson with a gimpy-wrist, playing with a drowning sophomore partner who was in way over his head, in excessively tough minutes in the absence of Tanev. He's not magically going to start piling up points or become a top-pairing stud. But he's still in the right age range to be viable for a rebuild (roughly the same as Hutton), and can provide ~20 defensive and PK minutes a night for a playoff team alongside the right partner.
But what we have there, looks largely like a nice collection of 3/4/5 types on an ideally deep Cup Contending blueline. We're still really looking for those absolutely critical 1-2 pieces to anchor the whole blueline. At the very least, a top matchup defenceman or two. Awfully big shoes that need filling.
There's Tanev, but unless his durability improves (uncommon as players and accrue more wear and tear)...he may not be the player he is today, when we come clear on the other side of this rebuild process.
I think you have to
hope that Juolevi can eventually fill one of those shoes. Be that as a Vlasic or Hamhuis circa our Cup Run type. That's what he was drafted so highly to do. That's the hope.
But we're still missing at least one huge piece there. Even if we go with more of a "defence by committee" approach, 3-pairings deep a la our Cup Run before the Bruins demolished our depth back there.