Longer term will reflect a lot of what happens this year. If our top three offensive lines flourish, then we could well and truly stay pat with where we are right now. I also think one of Smith, Hishon or Sgarbossa will come along in the next year or two.
On defense, I think a lot depends on the progression of one of Barrie, Elliott or Siemens. Honestly, I thought Rutkowski was going to be good for us, but alas - no. I notice Boston have not renewed Cohen's contract. I'd love for him to be bought back into our system in Lake Erie.
Long term, a D-core of Johnson, Wilson, Siemens, Barrie, Bigras & maybe Elliott is satisfactory. It's just what we have to do in the meantime, while they are developing which is the key, and I suppose Hejda, Sarich & "possibly" Benoit are satisfactory fillers.
On offense, people shouldn't forget Tanguay. He's no plug, and with Landeskog and Stazz, is good for almost a point - per - game for the next 3-4 years imo. He hasn't played with that level of talent in a long time.