While I like Bigras, I'm not sure he's a slam dunk to even be the #6 out of camp. He's got potential, absolutely, but I feel that Wiercioch and Tyutin will get their looks, and Gelinas too. Add in a new coach and we have no idea what to expect.
The only thing that looks set on the Defense right now is EJ on the top pairing, besides that we don't know if Barrie will be up there, or if they'll go back with Beauch, etc. To dig deeper, I'd say that the defensemen we can safely assume as being on the active roster to start the year would be: EJ, Barrie, Beauchemin, Zadorov, and Tyutin. I included Tyutin because I could've swore I've seen talk that Tyutin was brought in to "mentor" Z, and be paired with him. If we leave him as a "Safe name" on the list, that's 1 starting spot left for Bigras, Gelinas, and Wiercioch (and maybe even Siemens). If Bigras is going to be some sort of rotational scratch for that 6th spot (because I believe Wiercioch and Gelinas are going to get their shots, as sort of "reclamation projects"), then the question becomes "Isn't it better for Bigras to be playing way more minutes in SA, and then come up later in the season when injuries and/or poor play happens?"
At any point, bringing in Versteeg on a maximum of 2M CAN work, but it remains to be seen if the Avs even look his way (I think he'd help provide insulation to our young F's we will have up in the Top-9).
