[Cali Panthers Fan]

Left shooting wingers or centers on the pro roster for (likely) the next 3 years:
Hudler
Gaudreau
Raymond
Colborne
Bouma
Bollig

I don't see him replacing any of those top 5 in that time.

Prospects who are LW or left shooting Centers/RWers (because you never know where they will end up in the NHL):
Granlund
Ferland
Poirier
Reinhart
Bennett
Jankowski
Klimchuk
Hanowski
Agostino

That is a crazy list of talent to compete with for NHL jobs.

The problem with Sven really boils down to what type of game can he play in the NHL effectively?

Clearly he is a gifted playmaker, there is zero doubt he can do that part of his game consistently at the NHL level.

Is he a goal scorer? Not lately. He hasn't scored an NHL goal since Nov. 22 2013, and he only has 8 goals over parts of 4 seasons (65 games), and that includes his 3 goal in 5 game stretch. He's likely never going to be a regular goalscorer in the NHL.

Is he a top 6 guy who can also handle defensive responsibilities that come with those minutes? That's questionable so far. He's been schooled at times on the defensive end and has been hemmed in by the oppositions 4th line during his time this year. He still struggles to make the easy/simple plays to disrupt the opposition's attack.

Can he handle physical match ups and still be effective? The jury is out on that one. You can argue Gaudreau can get overmatched physically, but then he manages to create offensively despite that problem. Also, it's hard to be competitive with a lot of smaller softer players. You need bigger players with them to balance things out.

So where does a guy who is still a fairly one dimensional player fit into a franchise where accountability and strong 2-way play is demanded of everyone?

More so than anything else, his game, as it is today, doesn't fit the identity of this team. Can he still change? Yes. Will he still be an effective NHLer if he does? I don't know. I don't even know if he's an NHLer if he doesn't change his game.

I just think he's the type of prospect that people would be intrigued to give a chance to, and in return you could get a very solid defenseman or RW prospect to even out what we have coming down the pipe. For those reasons, I think you see him traded in a package for a player that is ready to play defense in the NHL in the next year or two.