Thank you. The bold is basically what I care about the most. He wasn't drafted to be a puck-mover, he was drafted to bring snarl and bite to a group that hopefully had a few puck-movers.
If Sauer never gets hurt, I believe he's still playing with McDonagh to this day. That pair screamed like out future 1-2 after being developed and brought up together.
It seems evident to me that one of Girardi and Klein have to be moved to bring McIlrath into the fold next season. I think Klein's sub-par playoffs was more due to the injury and probably not having enough time to really properly get back into the groove. Think his contract is also an asset. Seems to me like if Sather HAS to move a guy on the back-end, it should be Girardi mainly due to cap purposes.
I'd really like to see McDonagh with the main squad. Hopefully he gets to the point one day where he's reliable enough to pair with McDonagh. For now, I'd take a Yandle-McIlrath. It seems like Yandle is tailor-made for AV's system and would be solid opposite Dylan. On paper, their games seem to mesh together really well. Yandle can skate, make nice passes and force the other team to defend while McIlrath can be the more reliable stay-at-home player next to him. I believe I've also heard McIlrath has a solid shot, so that could be an asset playing beside a player like Yandle.