It depends on what acquisitions we make. Jarnkrok and Gio are likely to be our biggest losses this season. That leaves us with:
Forwards
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Eberle-Gourde-?
Schwartz-McCann-Beniers
Tanev-Wennberg-Donskoi
?-Geekie-Appleton
Defense
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Dunn-Oleksiak
Larsson-?
?-Soucy
You get one legit top-6 F and try to land a top-4 D if possible. You don't need to overhaul the roster because the TDL and expiring FA (both restricted and unrestricted) contracts will take care of that for us. Shoring up the forwards is a higher priority in my mind because at worst you can push Soucy into a top-4 role. Not great for a team with SC intentions but for us that should be just fine. We should also sign atleast 1 established bottom-6 F and bottom-4 D. I don't think Fleury/Borgen are any better than 7D right now.
The first line in your response is actually the biggest issue with the team. i.e Hakstol. If the team wants to see a massive improvement, i.e picking outside of the top-10 next season, he needs to be put on a very short leash. If we are languishing in the bottom-5 of the league within the first 15 games, either he needs to be cut loose OR you decide to call it another 'tank' season and go for Bedard/Michkov.
The 2nd biggest problem, in my opinion, is the lack of identity. It has been pointed out by many others but may also be related to coaching. This team does not do anything great. Offense, defense or goaltending. We are not the fastest team which makes it difficult generating turnovers while forechecking. However, fingers crossed, that may change next season with Beniers as well as Tanev coming back. Getting another such player in the bottom-6 may help give the team some identity.
And I understand all the talk about ownership being agreeable to the long term plan of us building a team but I would be shocked if they are ok with us picking top-5 again next season.
I look at your proposed roster and I don't think any mid-level UFA's you add to it make it a competitor with Hakstol's current system.
1. Beniers as a rookie probably is not going to have a huge impact as a replacement for Jarnkrok. I see the next year net change as negligible, if not even a bit on the negative side.
2. While a guy like Sheahan is dime a dozen, he is a solid penalty killer, which this team lacks. I hate that the third and fourth lines are not above average defensively, let alone elite defensively.
A bottom six like this requires a guy like Gourde to be a primary penalty killer. Killing penalties is extremely tiring, and teams that rely on their top six players to do it, over-work them and find them drained by the end of the game, and they have no offensive jump left, which is often desperately needed late in close games.
3. It comes back to roles. Hakstol has designated all the players as round pegs and all the holes on the team as round holes. When in reality, The team is filled with round, square, and triangular shaped pegs and the roles on the team should also be similarly shaped.
The coach has to deploy his personnel in a way that caters to their strengths, while best filling the needs of the system. Hakstol has constantly deployed his lines in a way that is more often than not not playing to the players strengths. It is like the team is running at 20% efficiency.
Can Hakstol coach differently? He does not so far seem to be making evaluations and adjustments, so I have doubts.
Lastly, Borgen has played better than a lot of #6 D currently in the league, and I liked his chemistry with Dunn. I am hoping he gets a chance down the stretch to play consistently and we can see what we have with him.
Also, what happened to RFA Donato in your lineup =p
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