ginner classic
Dammit Jim!
Not so concerned about the future of the forward group with Pettersson, Gaudette, Dahlen, Lind, potentially adding to Horvat and Boeser.
But what about that defense…
In two years (i.e. starting 20/21 season):
- I expect that Tanev will still be here. He will be 30 years old at the start of the season.
- Del Zotto, Edler and Biega will likely all be gone.
- If the aim is to have a highly competitive team, Gudbranson will be in a 7/8 role.
- Again, with the focus on being a highly competitive team, I believe it’s fair to assume that only one of Pouliot, Hutton, Stecher will be contributing. For argument sake let’s say it’s Stecher.
So, how do they fill out the other spots, again, to be a competitive team. Assuming Juolevi ends up being a top 4 D-man and Brisebois is mostly an AHLer you have:
XXXX – Tanev
Juolevi-XXXX
XXXX-Stecher
Gudbranson
Biega clone
One of Dahlin, Bouchard, or Boqvist could come this draft. But my sense is they will still need to find two more top 6 D-men, one of which will have to be a top-4.
Even without trading Tanev or Hutton it's doable to transform our D depth in one year
1st rounder this year - Dahlin, Dobson, Boqvist, Hughes or Bouchard (can even trade down from 2 or 3)
Tryamkin or trade proceeds - Tryamkin
2nd rounder this year - Woo or MacIsaac
3rd rounder this year - Durzi
College free agent...two of...Brickley, Hutton, Keeper, Rauhauser, Rafferty, Schueneman, Gross, Schuldt,
Trade proceeds from surplus middling forwards - Rasmus Andersson (Baertschi + Granlund) and McKeown (Goldobin)
Just to make a point we could add these kind of assets....
Boqvist (rd)
MacIsaac (ld)
Andersson (rd)
Brickley (ld)
McKeown (rd)
Durzi (rd)
Keeper (rd)