I tend to agree with you on this, assuming Hamonic is re-signed or we go out and get another RHD, Kleven's waiver exempt status likely puts him in Belleville.
Wrt using 14, 12, and 15 different D in the last few seasons, I expect that number to drop as we mature as a team. When you look at the last few years, we've been searching for someone to fill in a hole on the backend. This year we should be going in with a more clear idea of who our top 9 are and don't have the same number of prospects we want to get a look at, so we won't have the same situation where we call up a Larsson or a Heatherington unless we get really desperate.
Top 4 depth is pretty clear.
Brannstrom, Hamonic (if signed), JBD, Kleven, Guénette and Thomson round out the top 8 and primary callup options (waiver status might influence who stays up at first). We probably need a couple AHL guys like Larsson and Heatherington in case of emergency, but I don't expect to go deeper than that because we haven't got the situation where we are searching for an answer, or worried about bouncing top prospects around.
Tldr, if the over under for how many D we use is 12.5, and im taking the under. Risky I guess with Chabot, Zub and Chychrun's injury history...