[jayswin]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

It is.

We went into the offseason looking to replace Gudbranson and Zadorov. We replaced Zadorov with Zadorov and instead of replacing our 5/6 defenceman we added a top pairing defenceman. If we didn’t go through all the guys wanting new teams, I very much doubt we would’ve acquired a defenceman before filling the top 6 forward hole.

Weegar, Tanev, Andersson, Kylington, and Zadorov is a good-great top 5 around the league. If two of those guys go down we still have Stone, Mackey, and Valimaki playing spot duty. Having Hanifin obviously puts it over the top.

Top 6 RW was a sore spot last season, too. It’s great we swapped Gaudreau and Tkachuk for Huberdeau and Kadri, but that didn’t fill the hole. Gotta give to get, and right now we can stay in great shape by giving up a defenceman to get a RW.

Exactly where I'm at, too.