Yeah, I wonder about Chlapik’s future. I don’t think there was ever any intention for him to make the team out of camp. I just think they’ve held onto him the extent of time that they have so that coach gets to know him as a player, because he’s still quite young, and a second rounder from Ahite and Chabot’s draft year who’s shown promise in limited action but just can’t quite cut it. Paul’s done as far as I’m concerned. Kelly’s first training camp and he’s already surpassing him, which is why he’s still here, whereas Paul is just getting as much a chance as they can possibly give him due to his long known toolbox and potential if he could ever put it together. Doesn’t help he’s the last piece of the Spezza trade remaining, and I think subconsciously that still plays a role.
The Spezza return won't ever deliver but people have to stop thinking we should have gotten a ransom for him. His age and physical condition made him a prime candidate for a rapid decline, and that's exactly what happened 2-3 years after he got traded. Problem was that, not only he wanted a change of scenery, but he only had 1 year left and was due for a new contract which was going to end up as a mistake (unless it could have been for only 2 years, but that's not realistic). Ideally we would have gotten a better return but teams were not ready to do that (outside of Nashville but the trade was rejected) so in the end, it's a bit like if he was let go as a UFA (which frankly would have been fine). You can always tie yourself too long to every player because very few can stay at the top of their game going into their 30s.
Balcers might be a decent top 6 player eventually; however he will not be playing with many true top 6 players this season as the Senators have very few top 6 caliber players at this time because they traded the few they had away. This team sorely lacks top 6 centers who can maintain control of the puck and make other players better.
Sens have a lot of 2nd liners, but no 1st liner anymore (Stone and Duchene)
Ryan, Anisimov, Duclair, White, Tkachuk, Tierney all can do relatively well/ok in a top-6 role but none can put 1st line numbers (outside maybe Tkachuk but when?)
Balcers, Brown and Batherson could also possibly be 2nd liners right away but doubt they'd be able to be 1st liners right away
Ennis and maybe Connor Brown could also produce if given the right opportunity but are more 2nd/3rd line tweeners.
Pageau, Boedker can't see them be more than 3rd liners at this point in time. Hard to tell regarding Abramov but doubt he could be a top-6 forward right away. Same with Davidsson, Norris, etc, the rest all need more time to develop. Chlapik and Paul will struggle to just make the line-up
So no choice to have two 2nd lines, a 3rd line and a 4th line. Balcers seems more pro polished than Brown and Batherson who are very important prospects so I'd take more time with them. That's why I am putting Balcers in a top-9/top-6 role
Duclair-Anisimov-Ryan
Tkachuk-White-Balcers
Ennis-Tierney-Brown
Abramov-Pageau-Boedker
Paul
They can make 3 decent lines but none will be at a 1st line level, so it's more offense by committee, no choice after trading our best players.