Well considering that list didn't contain Edler, yeah I think it is a tough group to fit into a proper rotation. It's an over allocation of assets into depth positions while the team lacks quality at the forward position. Usually a 7th Dman isn't going to be the quality of a Gudbranson, Stetcher, Juolevi, or (projecting a bit here) Tryamkin. It's more along the lines of an Andrew Alberts or an Aaron Rome because that is the quality that you can afford to acquire and pay for sporadic contributions. That depth would be better off converted into the forward ranks which are going to be sorely lacking in 2 years time.
Idk, i think what Tryamkin
projects as, is absolutely the quality of guy you'd like to have as a 6/7th D if you're building a serious Cup Contender.
And even then...you've got Juolevi/Tanev/Hutton/Gudbranson/Tryamkin/Stecher...which is a pretty good set of 6. Not sure there's a lot of room for both of Larsen/Stecher down the line in the same sort of role, unless one of them vastly exceeds expectations and becomes a lot more than just a Top-6 offensive D. But remains to be seen if either can even firmly establish themselves as even that much - though it certainly looks promising.
I do think that at some point, the Edler thing is going to come up though. Perhaps that point comes when the Sedins move on. Really a matter of actually getting him to the point where he's open to a trade...and at a point where this team is in a less competitive place to swallow the loss of a top-pairing de facto #1D...temporarily at least. Even if that's just the last year of his deal. Ideally, that would be converted to a forward asset of some sort (via pick, prospect, or young skater).
But aside from that...there just aren't really many opportunities out there to swap "good depth" for "top quality" anything. Defencemen tend to be worth more than Wingers in particular...but what we're really lacking up front is the type of "quality" that you generally only get through the draft (or for absolutely top-quality defencemen which is where i don't think we have a surplus).
If we were to end up spending
another top pick on a defenceman...at that point, maybe we're talking about having an expendable piece somewhere to convert into a Forward asset and better balance the rebuild.
But assuming the next few years are likely to be Forwards as top picks...that's
hopefully adding at least one premium forward asset each year to the pool.
Right now we've got Horvat, Virtanen, Boeser, Baertschi as the real "future Top-6 forwards" pool. Clearly lacking the "Superstar" talent at the very top...but there's potentially 4/6 solid supporting pieces in place. And the pieces we're missing (#1C, etc.) are the key to any rebuild is getting the right premium pieces to drive your franchise. Those aren't pieces you're going to swap your finally decent defensive prospect
depth for. So in that regard, even if there
does end up a bit of a surplus on the blueline - unless we're into trading our absolute cream of the crop premium defensive pieces (Juolevi, Hutton)...and then our defensive top-end needs more work again (which takes longer than fixing the forward pool).
To me, this future blueline is
finally starting to look like it's on the way to what a proper rebuild pool looks like. It's just a matter of time to build that forward pool up to the same sort of level. You can't do it all at once unless you have a team that has assets worth enough to be a real contender in the first place.
