No...TK is not a 50 point player yet. He should break that barrier this year.
2nd of all, you never listed Lindblom in your post. You said: "Don't want Skinner at all, I don't think in two years he'll be able to beat out Ratcliffe/Farabee/Rubtsov/Laughton at LW."
Only Laughton will be in the NHL from that group this year. Then in year 2, will be NHL rookies. Will they be 50 point 3rd liners in their 2nd year...not likely considering TK wasn't and spent half the year on the top line.
Then for Skinner, you are under valuing him. He has put up 60+ point seasons before. The 50 points is almost the floor, yet you are saying he would get even less. With his shot, he easily bumps out Couts as well on the PP.
And as I said before, we have no need for Skinner once we added JVR. But that does not mean these kids will be better than him in 2 years. That's just dumb to say and underselling a 26 year old with multiple 30 goal seasons.
Side note....I love you mentioning TK considering you spent all last season saying he is not a top 6 player yet because he can't lead his own line. Something Skinner has done for years.
First, two years from now is 2020-21, this year is 2018-19, next year 2019-20, two years from now is when they have to start worrying about the cap as the RFA contracts start to add up.
TK was 20 years old last year, brought up at 19, that reflects the Flyers lack of depth. And he clearly struggled with anyone but the first line. I think his second half scoring was partially playing with Giroux and Couts, and partially maturing - but he still has some growing up to do.
Lindblom will be 24 in two years, Laughton 26, Ratcliffe 22, Rubtsov 23, Farabee 21.
And Skinner won't put up 50+ points on the 3rd line and PP2. He's a solid 2.0 pp/60 scorer (3yr average, 1.79 last year), good but not elite.
[13 minutes, 1040 for season, 35 5x5 points, 36-40 ES points plus PP2 points]
TK, despite playing half the season off the 1st line, put up 2.27 pp/60.
My darkhorse is Laughton if he gets to play LW with a center who can pass, three years ago he put up 1.79 pp/60, the offensive skills are there, give him a center who can pass and take defensive responsibilities off his shoulders and I think he'd blossom.
Lindblom was a top forward in the SHL at 20, Frost might be perfect for him because speed is the one thing Lindblom lacks, otherwise in the right situation he's shown he can score. He needs to slow the game down but the skills are there.
Ratcliffe has size, speed, hands, how fast he'll mature remains to be seen, but if he builds on last season he can be a high scorer almost immediately, even if it's one more junior, one AHL, in 2020-21 he should be ready to push for a starting job.
Farabee is an unknown, but young players have exploded on the scene before, two years in college and direct to the NHL is feasible.
Note - we're talking one out of four coming close to 2.0 pp/60. Which would be about 70th in the league last season.
I don't expect all four to pan out, I'd be happy if we have two solid LWs who can score between 1.75-2.0 pp/60 in that group.
But with this kind of talent coming up, you'd only add a FA who could push JVR or Voracek to the 3rd line (or traded, because that's an expensive 3rd line forward).
