Goaltending: Better (Hiller > Berra)
Forwards: Worse (Cammalleri, Stempniak >>> Raymond, Bollig)
Defense: Better (Smid, Engelland >= Butler, O'Brien)
The improvement on D and in net don't outweigh the drop-off in forwards in my opinion. I'd say that right now, our opening day roster last year was better than what our roster looks to be right now. Taking Stempniak and Cammy out of the top 6 and effectively replacing them with a 3rd liner and a 4th liner/13th forward will have the biggest impact on the team.
I'd say right now, we look worse - but who knows what actually happens until we see who makes or doesn't make the team rookie-wise, and who takes a step forward (Monahan? Bouma? Brodie?) and who takes a step backwards (Giordano? Hudler?).
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