Outlook

These lines are all fouled up from expectations.

If there was a single forward pair I would expect to stick together more than anything, it would be Nico-Bratt as they have such a history. I also do not expect to see Holtz jump in right away...his development has been hampered so much in 18 months, he will get 1st line time in Utica, no reason to rush him.

I can't imagine Hughes loses both Kuokkanen AND Sharangovich to start the next year either as that unit was clicking. Also, AJ is so mis-cast in the 4th line role... He is setup for failure there. He's either supporting a mid-6 spot or he's useless. The thing that made that 4th line role was their change of pace and grinding. McLeod is a very nice 4th liner you can throw out to change the pace, so the hope is the 3rd line can be secondary scoring with more skill.

Also Siegenthaler is the 3rd LHD, he's got positive EV Def of 77% via JFresh, although Koekkoek would be a very nice defensive depth guy I would be interested in over rushing anyone like Bahl or anything like that.