Quote:
Originally Posted by smiggy77
At the end of last season, we had Wideman on his way out, Engelland just got picked up by Vegas in their draft, and Wotherspoon and Kulak who struggled hard and couldn't crack a spot on the roster. Even now, I don't think we have defensive depth ready to crack the NHL full time. We've got Kulak who is still likely good for a 5th or 6th D spot with maybe Andersson knocking on the door for the 6th. No one else would be ready for full time NHL time.
At the time, we definitely needed another top 4 defenseman, with Hamonic being an upgrade to both Wideman and Engelland.
Agreed that the RW situation has been a bit of an issue but without losing a piece of the core, all Tre had was this year's 1st, to either spend on fixing the D situation or adding in a RW. I think they had stock in Versteeg and Ferland continuing their production or growing into this season, as well as Bennett having more offense.
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Stone and Brodie were playing well enough together at the end last season and I would have simply brought in a cheap (that wasn't an ex-Canuck or Star) vet in free agency to split 5/6 with Kulak and Andersson. It's pretty clear that Andersson could have probably played in the bottom 6 this season without hurting the team that much. You have to expect that there would be some tough sledding but I think the coach could have simply rode his top four harder.