Potential 2022-23 Starting Lineup

We need a top 5 pick and one more UFA/trade acquisition. I still think the lineup above needs 1 more top 6F and 1 more top 4RD . I don’t know if Manson is the answer

Norris you would sign to a 3 year bridge deal and then give him the 8 year deal. that locks him in till he is 34. otherwise he is 31 going into FA and you have to give him a deal through his age 36 season or beyond.

I think Stutzle is more likely to get a bridge deal before the long term extension, and our top pick from this draft. Norris is eventually gonna be our 2C, so I’d rather get years 4-8 (when we’ll be most competitive) at sub-8mil than an extra 3 years in his 30s at likely 9mil+ (cap will go up and so will the price for good top six centres in their prime, even if he’s only our 2nd best centre behind Stutzle or potentially Wright/Savoie/Cooley/Lambert). It would also be super nice to know that we have the Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson line for 21mil for 5 years just locked in.


I mentioned that I didn’t include our 2022 pick, I feel like unless it’s Wright, Savoie, or maybe Slafkovsky, a year in junior/college/the AHL would be fine for our other options (Cooley, Kemell, Lambert, Yurov). But that should be the other winger on the Stutzle line (hopefully Kuzmenko works out if we get him, Formenton has been improving and showing good chemistry with Stutzle too). I don’t think the RD we want is available in UFA. Manson is fine as a stopgap that is at least decent (top 4 quality) so we don’t rush Thomson or JBD. I’m also not opposed to paying to dump Zaitsev.