Quote:
Originally Posted by nik-
Is it? ... I see two players who are likely to play in the NHL and they're both going to be full time regulars next year, likely low pairing potential, maybe second for Marincin. And then Darnell Nurse, who should easily be top 4.
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Given where they're situated personnel wise I think they should be okay.
First of all, Jeff Petry is 26. Unless they stupidly let him walk, they have one top 4 guy there for a few years. Notwithstanding bias against the Oilers, Petry actually doesn't suck in that role. He's not great, but he doesn't suck. So they need 3 top 4 guys. One of those is Schultz, if he sticks around. I don't like him very much, but he's a 2nd pairing offensive defenseman and is 23, so has room to grow. Now they need 2 more. One is Nurse two years from now, you'd hope, and the other may be Klefbom or Marincin, 20 and 22 respectively. Presumably, Nikitin and Ference are around to bridge the gap while those three guys transition into full time NHL players - though depending on what you think of Nikitin, that might be a pretty poor strategy.
It's honestly a much better position to be in in terms of defenders than a lot of NHL teams. The problem is they lack that clear cut top 2 defenseman, which is why there's no chance they pass on Ekblad who obviously projects to be a top pairing guy (to the extent you can predict defensemen).
Just my opinion.