Bouchard still needs to learn and practice in his defensive zone coverage....he has improved alot this last partial AHL season and his trajectory has me excited --maybe we will get the Jay Bo that never was--
Hopefully practicing at the NHL level and learning against these guys he starts to sporadically getting injected into the line up and by the end of the season becomes a better all around option that Barrie.
So to answer ur number 4...(not sure about ur other 3....maybe we carry 23 + 6?)
Nurse (occasional brain fart but steadily improving) Bear (Sophomore risk but steady+tantalizing upside)
Jones (risk-not a second pair yet) Larsson (wonky back-high risk?)
Russell (not here for a long time) Barrie (peeking out of dog house-"I want to fly coach")
Lagesson (am i good enough) Bouchard (not quite ready--multiple cups of coffee)
Risk is so high. Makes sense to bring in a steady vet presense. I know ur going to say that Hamonic is a free agent for a reason. Yes he needs fixing. Most of his bad decisions were in the O zone. I think he can be remade with some hard work and fairly quickly. Hope Holland gives him two years. There is a defensive specialist with a great first pass and excellent transition hidden in Hamonic! Right now he pinches in Ozone at wrong times, he makes questionable reads on developing plays, he frequently cant get his shot through, and wilts occaisionally (graphically) under pressure. By limiting his responsibilities most of this can be disciplined out of him.
I don't buy the Hamonic thing as the oilers will be signing Bear and unless they are moving Larsson then there is not place in our top 3 RD currently. Bear, Larsson and Barrie will all play before Hamonic. If you can trade Chiasson and something for an upgrade over Russell and Bear for minimal extra money above the 2.15m then sure. I don't think it is realistic in this cap environment where we will get a player better than what we have and get rid of money