The Panarin/Bob situations muddy this up pretty badly. If the 2 were signed, I'd push the envelope a bit for winning now. In order to do so, the CBJ would need more forward scoring. After the top line, Anderson and Foligno, forward scoring is abysmal. Duclair had 8 in his first 19, but none in his last 13. He's looking like an early season flash-in-the-pan. Jenner will be lucky to hit 15-he's goalless in his last 11 and only has 6 on the season. The rest of the forwards goal scoring is, well, pitiful. I guess Hanikainen's 4 are acceptable and Dubinsky's 3 are as well given who they are-but they can't be counted on for secondary scoring realistically.
Without a boost in secondary scoring (read: a real #2C), this team is going nowhere in the post season.
In their last 6 games against teams in the top 16, the CBJ are 1-5 and have scored 12 goals. Half of those goals (6) were in the 9-6 debacle vs. Calgary. This is a scoring-challenged team against quality opponents.
The decision upon which direction to go will be all about the Panarin/Bob situations. The team is not good enough to make noise in the playoffs with them as currently configured. If they're not going to sign, may as well get something for each of them.
So, given that my read is that neither will sign, then the only sensible path is the "developmental" one.