Fully agree, its scary how much I agree haha but its the old school nhl mentality where you need veterans/nhl experience for when the going gets tough and lets face it if we are rolling into the year with the defence we have now it will be tough 10 seconds into game 1 lmfao
I see drake/balcers/chlapik/zub and wolanin making the jump so to say and maybe one of brown or norris in a scenario where they come in and dominate camp
even then i see us signing vets to eat up ice time for that 'veteran presence' for when the going gets tough which will steal playing time from our young guys/other prospects. I understand the going gets tough aspect but i rather spend 5 million on 1 semi decent player then 5 million on 5 lottery tickets like we are going to do lol
Yeah, even in the "new NHL" you will need experience and vets at some point. But we're not there yet. We need to contend for the playoffs first, then make the playoffs every year and become a more serious contender every year. By then, guys like Chabot, Tkachuk, Norris, #3 and #5, etc will have more experience and will be the "vets". Hopefully they'll have that opportunity while they are still young and in their prime. That's why you have to compete sooner than later. Don't wait that Chabot is 28 years old (he will still be good at that age if no major injuries)
Regarding the defense, a lot of things can still change before puck drop. Chabot, Wolanin and Zub are 3 solid pieces that I am counting on (assuming Zub isn't home sick and can adapt to NA and assuming Wolanin can get back to the level he was). Zaitsev could be fine if you don't ask too much of him, which doesn't seem to be a sure thing considering DJ's love for him. There's also Jaros and Lajoie who can play 3rd pairing.
Then what happens? Do we pick a D-man at #5? Would Drysdale or Sanderson be ready right way? Probably not so I'm not counting on that. Will Brannstrom be ready to fully make the jump? JBD and Thomson look like they won't graduate right away. They might want to acquire at least 1 D-man. The hope would be that they make a quantity package for quality.
This is what the roster will look like at the beginning (unless they sign vets). I'm assuming Batherson is fully ready and never looks back. I'm assuming one of Brown or Norris grabs the opportunity. Also assuming the 3rd OA pick makes the team as it seems to have been Dorion's intent since they secured that pick. Keep in mind, we're not competing for the cup and keep in mind there's no real 1st/2nd/3rd lines. At forward, Tkachuk, Duclair, Ryan, Brown, Tierney, White, Paul, Anisimov have NHL experience so they have to do their job and help out the younger guys. At D, also several guys with experience.
Tkachuk-3rd OA-Batherson
Duclair-Brown/Norris-Ryan
Brown-Tierney-White
Paul-Chlapik-Balcers
Hawryluk/Anisimov
Chabot-Zaitsev
Wolanin-Zub
Reilly-Jaros
Lajoie
Nilsson/Hogberg
As you can see there's already a LOGJAM brooming, so in theory, we don't need to sign any vets. Guys like Abramov, Formenton, Brown/Norris (the one who didn't make the team), Davidsson and Brannstrom will want/need opportunities to show what they got. Injuries happen but there's a lot of guys that will need auditions. If you sign 2-3 vets, you are BLOCKING the chance to realize your main objective. Like I said, we have to find out what we have in many of these prospects. Many of them are not juniors freshly drafted, they are pro vets now.
Don't forget that outside of the guys I mentionned, there's also the #5 oa pick, the other 1st round pick, the 4 second round picks, JBD, Thomson, Pinto, etc that will still be in the pool and some of them will progress to knock at the door soon so again, comitting to "vets" would be blocking the way. As I have been saying several times in the past, there's a massive logjam coming up.
