Quoting: Isles777
The only way I see them regressing as a team (which is possible) is if they bury wahlstrom and only give dobson 12-14 min a night while giving leddy/mayfield an increased role. If Leddy/mayfield are playing 20 min a night and brassard/komarov are on the 3rd line instead of younger players with upside, they might be in trouble - but more likely they'll get bailed out by sorokin/varlamov and lou/trotz will continue to think they can win with a bunch of grinders.
Basically it comes down to Lou/trotz getting out of their own way. Play the kids.
Beauvillier is due for a big breakout season. Isles fans are always signing Hoffman and putting him with barzal, but beau is a much better fit. Extremely underrated and has the the shot and high end hockey IQ to compliment barzal.
Are you assuming there won't be an AHL season with that Taxi squad?
I'll be honest, I'm not totally sure how the taxi squad is supposed to look. I was under the impression it would basically be more healthy scratches that didn't count against the cap, but had to clear waivers. Bellows and MVS don't need waivers, the rest would clear (or be replaced easily). I just put 6 guys who I thought could hold their own if pressed into duty (so not Holmstrom, Wilde, Skarek, etc.).
Agree with you on Beau, think he's ready for a big year. Crossing my fingers he gets some more time with Barzal but him and Nelson are pretty solid too, so not the end of the world if 27 is with 13 and 18 with 29.
I think we're gonna see Dobson in a more limited role to start the season. Ease him in and then move him up as he gets more experience. They seem pretty committed to Dobson, so as long as they don't get bored with him, I'll trust however they deploy him. That said, if he plays with Dobson that might not be the worst idea. Dobson is pretty mature for his age; thought he looked good in Game 6 and had pretty good results during the regular season. Maybe he could even elevate Leddy's offensive play by being a steady presence actually capable of playing good defense (unlike Boychuk was). But with all the praise Leddy got, combined with their attitude toward unproven entities, I doubt they start the season together.