[GranteedEV]

The team is good, and it's nice they're not getting goaltend'd every night so far (do they score all these goals on Smith or Gibson? Probably not).

I think the forward group is good, but still missing some pieces (Ritchie in the top nine sticks out like a sore thumb and highlights how weak our right wing is, and the fourth line while talented (Monahan and Lucic can still play even if they're not in their prime anymore) is a bit slow especially on D zone breakouts.)

Even if we acquire Eichel, we still need some minor moves to shore up the depth. But we're close. Kylington finally getting a chance in the four has made a world of difference - this would easily be the most mobile top four we've had since Gio-Brodie / Hanifin-Hamonic - and I prefer Tanev over Hamonic.

My hope is that some of the AHL guys (Kinnvall/Pellettier/Phillips/Zavgorodniy/Zary/Ruzicka/Duehr/Pettersson/Mackey/Gawdin) can take a step forward at some point in the season. I think we have some legit NHL-calibre depth that deserves to be tested. All these guys are skilled and play an NHL style IMO (Pettersson might be the biggest question mark in my eyes)

Adding even two of the AHL guys is a skill boost IMO but it's on them to take the step forward and dethrone some of the veteran guys. A lineup of

Gaudreau - Lindholm - Tkachuk
Coleman - Backlund - Pitlick
Mangiapane - Dube - Duehr
Lucic - Monahan - Phillips
Pellettier - Zary - Lewis
Pettersson - Ruzicka - Ritchie
?? - Gawdin - Zavgorodniy

Hanifin - Andersson
Kylington - Tanev
Valimaki - Gudbranson
Zadorov - Kinnvall
Mackey - Stone

would be nice depth. Or assuming an eichel package:

Tkachuk - Eichel - Phillips
Gaudreau - Lindholm - Mangiapane
Coleman - Backlund - Pitlick
Lucic - Ruzicka - Zavgorodniy