I think talents like Evgeni Dadonov, Matt Murray and Tim Stuetzle are a bit sold short on this board but agree that the Sens won't be able to do much in terms of standings if stuck in a Canadian division.
Also, a few young guys like Norris, Batherson, Formenton, Brannstrom, etc are close to "breakout" as NHL players and could be making an impact sooner than we'd think (sort of like Hoffman, Stone, Pageau, Hammond, Lazar, Ceci in 2014-15)
Saying they will be lottery team again is understandably conservative, but I wouldn't be surprised if they would do better than expected in a "full normal season". I wouldn't bet on them making the playoffs but they could show some nice progression (and they were already decently competitive in many games last year as a bottom team)
But anyway moot point as it's going to be a Canadian division if there's NHL hockey.
Scoring by committee seems to be a realistic alternative to me. I think this team has a pile of potential, likely, and surefire 50pt players.
Don't see it in Sokolov, unfortunately. He's a 20 year old that was ranked in the third round of the draft. He's quirky and likeable, but I think him just making the NHL is an accomplishment. Jarventie is a wildcard. His stats are terrific, but he's also the 6th in team scoring on the best team in the league.
3 quick notes here
I think there's a few guys that will regularly score more than 50 pts though. Notably Stuetzle, Tkachuk and Batherson. Maybe also guys like Norris and Brown. For Brown it depends how much % of his potential he reaches. Heck, I think he has the skillset to be a PPG player. But "putting it all together" sounds a lot easier to say than do in reality. Ask Mika Zibanejad.
Sokolov is a "late bloomer". He has developped his skills over the years but his skating was lacking to be considered a NHL prospect (and then drafted). He has been working on it like crazy and also lost a lot of weight. He could be a transformed player. He still has some work to do to reach the NHL but I could see him being a good AHL player right away. He has a great skillset. If his speed is just NHL average, he'll be an interesting prospect to keep an eye on. Doesn't matter if he was drafted as an overager
Jarventie might not be a leading scorer on his team but he doesn't get prime minutes at ES and even PP. It would be actually quite interesting to see what he could do as a main offensive player on his team. Unfortunately we won't see that this year as he is just 18 y/o. Young guys like that are usually burried in the line up and have trouble scoring. Jarventie release and hockey sense are the main reasons why he has good numbers