Here's what I think...
1. Karlsson traded to Tampa for Foote, Cirelli, Raddysh, a 1st, 2nd and 3rd
2. Duchene traded to NY Islanders for Bellows, Aho, a 1st and 3rd
3. Stone traded to Nashville for Fabbro, Gaudreau and a 1st
This is what you call a new start. You add three good, young D in Foote, Aho and Fabbro. Add three highly-skilled, young F in Bellows, Cirelli, Raddysh... and a very nice, well-rounded F in Gaudreau. In addition, you add three 1sts, a 2nd, and two 3rds. This would fit the description of Melnyk talking about "a ton of picks."
Adding those young players to a young core of Tkachuk, White, Chabot, Brown, Batherson, Formenton, etc. would be a very nice start of a rebuild.