And you assume McEichel and Reinhart are ready to jump in playing top line minutes for 82 games against experienced men will make that much of a difference? You and other posters have this delusion that our young kids are ready to step in and take these huge roles next year when in truth some might not even be ready next year and could use another season in the AHL or a season in the AHL.
Unless I start seeing improvement on defense at the least I can't see the Sabres even drafting anywhere in the 10 to 14th range next year. I mean look at Seguin and now look at Dallas hovering at the bottom and tell me how in one year with their in ability to score, the Sabres will be that much better in one year? We're assuming McEichel is going to be putting up Seguin numbers his first year? Sure that's fine but what about the rest of the team? One man won't make that much of a difference unless we start seeing defense because one guy can't win a shootout with every team every night.
This record of "we're not going to be that bad this year" is broken.
I think that with a couple goal scoring (as opposed to "leadership") vet additions, most of our first rounders (apart from maybe Armia) will be ready for at least sheltered minutes with the big club. I also think that having some actual talent brought in (via trade/FA/call-up) will go a long way to reviving Moulson/Ennis/Hodgson. I'm not necessarily calling for the kids to have the "huge" minute eating roles but enough playing time that they are learning and improving. That's all I want to see next season. It doesn't have to bring us out of the 10-14 pick (or even get us that high) - all I want to see is a respectable improvement over this season's tire fire. (Dropping a few of the 'tank-commander' UFAs will go a long way in this regard)
I think our blue-line next year will really determine whether we wallow at the bottom or work our way (slowly) up. I'm sure most people would agree that the difference between Mezaros/Benoit/Strachan and Pysyk/McCabe/Ruhwedel is night and day - not to mention signing a decent UFA d-man to help the kids transition. The kids will have bad nights (everyone does) and a couple, like Zadorov/McCabe, might need a little more time in the AHL, but overall they're still a substantial improvement from the current defensive roster.
I agree with the points you made - goal scoring will still be an issue next year and our defense needs to be seriously reworked over the summer. I might have a slightly more optimistic view/hope for the future than you but I think that's mainly because I trust Tim Murray to make smart decisions that effect real change this summer, and not just sit on his hands.