healthy and playing to expectations this team would be very good.

concerns:

hughes is a rookie. he is definitely a risk to underperform, or to be unprepared for a second line role. if he isn't ready to play 2C, haula is not exactly my first choice to take his place. this team goes from cup contender to struggling in the second round with haula at 2C.

karlsson is incredible but you gotta be worried about the injury history. josi can likely anchor the team and gostisbehre is a pretty decent choice as far as 2Ds go in that case, but this roster is only 20 players. gotta remember that you'll need a depth option on the roster and against the cap, and with none here i'm not confident about the 2nd/3rd pairing if karlsson goes down.

gusev-haula-mcginn is one of those lines where i have no idea what it'll look like. i imagine the answer is "competent".

Gusev hasn't played in the NHL yet so why not a guy like Arvidsson. Less cap... 30+G a season... plays all situations... etc

I wouldn't call it that realistic when your 3 ELC players are a #1 overall draft pick, a 40 goal scorer, and a potential #1 Dman. Not to mention Hall and Josi are one year away from significant raises and you didn't include the other 50% owed to Barrie