Assuming we don’t sign tarasenko or Kane back, which are a little unrealistic I think this might be the best way to go about the roster.
Hire a new coaching staff, a strategist, and a good development coach. I get we are trying to win games but we are going to need to develop these young guys if we want to be successful.
Assuming kreider is ok playing his off wing I think this line would just allow all the kids to be in the top 6. Hopefully they won’t have troubles driving offence on this line.
Kid line, play them top 6 minutes. I know they have done much offensively and some of it is to do with ice time however that should be a full excuse. However Their 5 on 5 points aren’t horrible compared to the team. Hopefully they can get going and they can be successful.
Third line, bring up othmann assuming he’s ready. He looks good but we will see how he is in the NHL. Think this line can be tough to play against, as well as produce some offence. Some high motor guys, trochek and namestikov are both solid defensively along with othmann who is labeled as a player that can do a bit of everything I think they can be successful.
Fourth line, motte might be a tad expensive however keeping him is reasonable. Decided on getting Rodrigues a solid defensive centre to pair with vesey and cuylle. Cuylle has been successful down in Hartford, hopefully he can come up here and be physical and responsible defensively. I’m confident with vesey, he had a good year, like his game lord and think this line can be both physical and responsible.
Defence, the same as it finished this year. Can’t do much changing here aside for 3LD unless a trade happened.
Depending on how the younger players develop I think this team could be solid with the right coaching staff. Obviously there’s a possibility of Kane or tarasenko staying, and I’d rather tarasenko however he’s still got some game left in him and can prob get a good payday still from someone and we can’t give him that. Kane might be a bit cheaper. Close to home, he wanted to be here, he’s won, he’s made money. Depending on his injury this could be a possibility. I wouldn’t be opposed to this if it was a cheap contract as he is still a decent offensive player when healthy, however there may be better options, kind of depends what route you want to go. If they are confident in kakko, laf, othmann then probably a no go with Kane but if they think othmann needs more time in the AHL which it wouldn’t hurt than this is a possibility. Just depends what they want.
Yeah maybe not. Might need to give up a third and fourth to do it and might be with a different team. Just an idea. A buyout is also a possibility but who knows. At the end of the day he should be gone tho.