[Goriders]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Disagree, I think they can do both.

A lot of people have been saying they need a #1 defenseman, but I think they just need a top 4. I think there will be some progression from the current guys- Andersson had a bad year and I expect a strong bounce-back. Valimaki expected to make the jump to the NHL easily last year, and discovered that it was anything but - I expect him to show up at camp much more prepared this year. As for Hanifin, I expect some progression, we'll see how much. If Tanev gives us what we got last year, then awesome. Can Mackey or Kyllington step up?

I would expect they sign Stone. That leaves us with:

Hanifin - Andersson
Signing - Tanev
Valimaki - Stone
Mackey - Kyllington

and the signing can be a $3 - $4M guy IMO. Maybe as much as $5M for a guy like Martinez

The big acquisition has to be a top 6 RW - preferably a top line RW, but a 2nd liner will do.

The biggest question mark is Monahan of course - what will he be this year? If he has any kind of decent bounce-back, I think the team will surprise and make the playoffs quite definitively.

I agree with you