Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee
This will be extremely unpopular but...
I think the best road forward is to keep as much of this group as possible.
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Are you talking about the roster as a whole, or the young core? The latter I could see the argument for. Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuck continue to build off of how they finished off the season, Monahan bounces back and is a strong #2 centre, and Mangiapane continues to be a strong forward. That's 5/6 players that are playing as top 6 forwards then and you can work with that as a playoff team. A lot of this really relies on Monahan playing good though, and that's up in the air honestly.
If that goes well, and depending on the expansion draft some cap space is cleared, then the possibility of adding a 2nd line winger via Free Agency - preferably with a right handed shot - can fill out the roster nicely.
The remaining bottom two lines you fill out with your budding prospects and cheaper players, plus Lucic/Backlund depending on who sticks around. If anything the bottom 6 should look a lot different than it has for most of the season. Treliving was very critical of the depth on the roster and was expecting more from them. So if I'm certain of one thing if he does stick around, the bottom forward lines will probably be different come opening night for the next season. Don't know if it'll make it better or worse, but if it's with younger players with potential, I think that it could work out for the better since it's players that could have spurts for production while developing. And then a player or two that are solid utility players that play a steady game.
The defense I don't have much of an issue with except for lack of goal production from the more offensive capable players we've expected to produce. But those players are still young and growing, so hopefully they bring more of it next season.
Factor in Sutter having a full training camp, complete control of the room and expectations out of the players, and a proper season to work with, I could see the possibility of giving the main core one last shot since at the point there's absolutely no more excuses.