Couple of things....Roy, Geekie, Gauthier, Brown, and Necas are the righties on that list. Geekie, Roy, and Brown are the centers and I'm guessing that Necas is hoped to evolve into a full time pivot. Of that group, and nothing's certain given Rod's penchant for "earn it", Necas undoubtedly has the inside track on making the roster. He is a hard worker, is skilled, and has speed the system requires. He's also become much more responsible in his own zone.
Again, I'm repeating myself, but for the team to continue to evolve and improve we will need more talent joining the NHL squad. We can bring in proven Top 9 guy(s) or we can feel like we're sure we've got guys in Charlotte ready to jump into that role. The latter option is one we've depended on in the past and it almost always burned us (Slavin, Pesce, and Foegele, to a lesser extent, being the most notable exceptions). For the former to occur, we'll have to give up assets of value, not just draft picks and not just prospects. A proven NHLer will have to be part of that transaction (unless we sign the right UFA). The guys we would have to offer are: Justin Faulk, Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Lucas Wallmark, Brock McGinn, and Warren Foegele - something of fan favorites across the bunch (well okay, maybe a bit less w/Faulk). The point is, if we wanted to trade for a guy like say....Anthony Mantha or J.T. Miller or even Ryan Nugent Hopkins, you're packaging one (or maybe more) of those guys, a pick, and/or a prospect to get them. In the end we have to be sure that we are actually getting better with a transaction of this type.
The UFA route is pretty limited this year unless you're going to offer sheet one of the usual suspects or trade for an RFA believed to be too expensive for the current team to sign. The portion of the better forwards that we might have a shot at probably includes Gus Nyquist, Kevin Hayes, Ryan Dzingel, Brock Nelson, and maybe Matts Zuccarello. All of those guys are going to get some version of "paid". One other name we might want to look at is Brett Connolly, a right shot winger who has progressively improved his goal scoring as his TOI has increased. He, too, might get paid given his break out season, but my guess is he comes in more reasonable than most assume.
The last and most risky option is to assume that a Gauthier, a Saarela, a Kuokkanen, or other Checker is ready to take the next step. I'd likely add Poturalski, Geekie, and Roy to that mix. If we have slots because both Ferland and McKegg don't return, there will be lots of spirited competition for those openings. And don't forget Saku Maenalanen who has proven quite useful as a physical 4th liner. All in all these are good problems to have, but no matter this season's outcome, there will be a few new faces on next season's roster.
