Quote:
Originally Posted by dissentowner
A lot of good pieces that are already in place that the rebuild crowd refuses to acknowledge?
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This group has no impact players under 22.
They have 33 percent of an NHL defense. They may sign a depth veteran D or two, but even then - Kylington and Miromanov are going to be getting far more ice time than they would anywhere else in the league next year for a reason.
They will trade Markstrom in the off season, leaving Wolf and the Worst Statistical Goalie in the League in net.
Kadri, Huberdeau, Sharangovich, Kuzmenko and Weegar showed themselves to be a dynamic powerplay group in the last two months of the year with no pressure - if they pick up where they left off, and IF Kuzmenko and Sharangovich stick around long term, then they’re starting to have a foundation that might be solid enough to make some hay with the addition of three drafts’ worth of top-10 picks.
The biggest if of all, of course, is “if Wolf is a true #1” and even that’s a big if.
This team as currently constructed cannot compete with playoff teams, and they’re going to get worse before they get better (even if they’ve got a top-10 powerplay).