If Zadina, Veleno, and McIssac pan out, we could be competitive again in a year or two, and likely a contender again in 5. We had a great draft, but if Zadina ends up not being what we thought, we're going to look really stupid for not taking Quinn Hughes or Noah Dobson. Veleno I think will surprise everyone, and be a huge steal in this draft. At worst, he's a solid top 9 center. We have a great prospect pipeline though, and the good news is it looks like we've got quite a bit of depth there as well, but we really don't have any real "anchors' on this team. Larkin is a #2 center on any other team, AA AA has tons of talent but is really starting to annoy the piss out of me trying to be too cute on every play, and Mantha really needs to get to the level everyone knows he can play at, because he's underachieving right now and it's obvious. Cholowski is going to end up being really solid on the back end, maybe not a #1 guy, but certainly a 2-4 guy depending on his ceiling, Hronek is a serviceable 3rd pair, Hicketts while I love his heart and passion, he's MAYBE a 7th D-man, and Sulak needs some more seasoning.
This year I'd acutally expect us to finish worse than Ottawa honestly. They're a certified dumpster fire, but I think we're worse, which is good because we desperately need a #1 center and defenseman, and Jack Hughes would look good in red and white, just sayin'.
Overall, we're finishing 31st this year, but they won't be in the basement for long. It'll get better in a year or two.