Thoughts on bolded:
1) Pretty much everyone expects Laine to play LW
2) Stuart in the pressbox is a dream, one many wish for, but in all likelihood fantasy
3) De Leo played centre for the Moose all year in 2015-2016. This year will be the same
4) Would bet my life that Armia, Lowry & Hutch will never again play for the Moose. If they are not on the Jets roster, they face exposure to waivers & will end up on another team. Each would be traded before this scenario ever played out.
The fight for roster positions will be tough this year. Barring any trades of course the top 7 roster spots are:
Wheeler, Little, Scheifele, Ehlers, Perrault, Stafford, Matthias
& the next 3 being:
Lowry, Burmistrov, Armia who would have to clear waivers to play in the AHL
Pencil in Thorburn & the Jets only have 2 open roster spots left to be occupied by:
Dano, Laine, Copp, Connor, Petan, Lemieux, Lipon all of which can go up & down / from or to the Moose without fear of loss.
Should my scenario play out I think those final two roster spots are chosen based on role & ice time. I'd go:
1) Ehlers / Scheifele / Wheeler
2) Perrault / Little / Stafford
3) Dano / Burmistrov / Armia
4) Matthias / Lowry / Thorburn
Since every one of Laine, Copp, Connor, Petan, Lemieux, Lipon need to be playing regularly & not be sitting in the pressbox my first choice is obviously Laine which demotes Thorburn to the box & begets the following:
1) Ehlers / Scheifele / Wheeler
2) Laine / Little / Stafford
3) Perrault / Burmistrov / Dano
4) Matthias / Lowry / Armia
Thorburn a healthy scratch...for the first time in his career. I guess Dano could go back down to the Moose, but I am alone thinking he earned an NHL roster spot with his play last season?
Anyways, isn't it great to actually have such depth at forward!