Saad vs Panarin is essentially a debate on where you think the team should be. Either improve the Toews line or keep the Kane line dynamic. With Schmaltz and DeBrincat developing, the organization clearly had the opinion that adding a mini-Hossa was more key than having a mini-Kane going forward. Time will tell if that'll haunt us or not, but the fact that the Saad and Panarin cap hits are identical but Saad's has a longer term certainly didn't hurt.
This team, as of right now, seems to be less than the sum of their parts. Whether that's on coaching or players or management meddling of a combo of everything, I can't say for sure, but I just have a hard time imagining that so many players would simultaneously hit a brick wall at the same time permanently. This should be a team that rights itself eventually. With those factors in mind, I think that the Hawks with Saad are better than the Hawks with Panarin, but time will tell if that's really the case.