Our defense was better when Sekera (middle pairing) and Komisarek (bottom pairing) were replacing McBain, Sanguinetti and Bergeron (a bottom pairing and two guys who don't belong on an NHL defense).
If it's only those two replacing Pitkanen? Nothing changes from last year IMO. 3 top-4 defenders, each overslotted by one save for Faulk. Still need one more top-4 defender, and we won't get lucky with the Sekera trade again.
That said...we were the 29th overall in GA/A last year with Pitkanen (for the most part). That might have had to do with Ward/Peters/Murphy gong show, but all the same, we can probably accomplish that without him.
If we don't bring in a defenseman....
Faulk-Gleason
Sekera-Komisarek
Harrison-Murphy