Id rather have all that u gave up for holtz than holtz himself lol/

You have a point. Stsutzle is good, but he is not McDavid, Matthews, etc level.

I wish byfield fell to Ottawa, and they drafted drysdale with their 5th overall pick

Overpay for Laine 2.0

Exactly, because aside from him, we don't really have any projected 1st line forwards.
And that's if he pans out since his game benefits a lot from the wideness of the European ice but the transition should go smoothly.

As for our other prospects and why I don't think they could quite be up there:
- Tkachuk, lacks that game-breaking talent/skill to put him on that first line echelon
- Brown, oozes skill but really misses out on speed and isn't able to put his massive frame to work
- Norris, solid in all areas but not quite enough that I could define him as a future 1st liner
- Abramov, just too many intangibles and idk how much patience we'll have with him
- Jarventie, too one-dimensional to be that impactful
- Batherson, not dynamic enough and even his production in the A translates to solid 2nd line numbers

Yes one or more of these guys could solve some of their issues and reshape their game for the better but I don't feel like any are in a position where I could definitely advocate for them as future first line talents.

Yup was definitely hoping for Byfield too but wanted us to draft 2 forwards with insane amount of high-quality dmen available in 2021 compared to the elite forwards available in 2020
Any combo of Byfield/Stützle + Rossi/Perfetti/Raymond/Holtz would've been ideal

I agree.

I don't understand. You are worried that Ottawa doesn't have any top forwards in the NHL? I wouldn't be worried, in a couple years you may not have an elite 1st line but you will have 4 very good lines if you play your cards right:

Tkachuk-Stuetzle-Dadonov
Batherson-Norris-Brown
Formenton-Tierney-Järventie
Balcers-White-Abramov

And that's without signing any big UFAs.

Holtz is a much better playmaker.