A true rebuild through turnover is not necessary in my opinion, the core of this team is there, but there are some significant pieces missing still.
For offense we are missing a top tier possession/zone entry player, you hope Kap can get back to being an option for this when he has gotten his legs fully back, but MarJo is the only solution right now and the more the better. Shooting/finishing talent is also a major need, we have very few ranged threats compared to the rest of the league, Panarin, Robertson, and Hintz pulling up at the blue line and sniping it on us every time we play them is just a tool we do not have a response to currently.
Celebrini would bring both of these elements at the level needed IMO, would be a tremendous leap forward in our team if we did have him, but that’s so slim of a possibility.
On Defense, we are essentially missing a full middle pairing currently, and I would say we need a #3 and #5 minimum still to be contender status even with Spurgeon next year. To clarify my numbers, I’m talking about line carrying quality players. Soucy is a #5 for example. Ideally you have another top line guy but I think Brodin Faber is strong enough if you have capable depth through the 6 spot, at least for a few years.
Goalie is a crap shoot but theoretically in a great spot. We do need to draft or trade for another one at some point here though even if it’s just minor leagues, we will need bodies there and Gus’ next contract will be interesting.
We will have cap room through growth to fill some of these slots and maybe the prospect pool helps too, I am not fully sold, but I think the path to contention is a lot clearer for this team than the current bottom feeders in the league.