Edited Dec. 30, 2020 at 6:50 p.m.
This is a team that's hard to predict for this upcoming season.
I think not giving Markstrom a 6X6 contract is good. I know he's a very very good/elite goalie but he's 30 and Demko has starter potential. I think signing BH to a 2 year deal will turn out to be a very good move for them. He is a veteran, has won a cup and is still a nice goalie.
The D-core is where it gets interesting. Schmidt is better than Tanev but Stecher wasn't replaced. When I look at their d-core, I see 3 penalty killers I 100% trust: Myers, Edler and Schmidt. Someone needs to step up and fill that 4th spot. I don't believe Hughes is the right fit here, since he's very offense minded. Benn may be this player but IMO it should be Juolevi (if Benning doesn't add a guy like Hamonic).
I really struggle to see their offense as being more than average. I love their top 6, with EP, Boeser, Horvat, Miller, Pearson and Virtanen. Their bottom 6, however, is very weak. Sutter is overpaid and isn't much more than a 20 pts guy (proportional to an 82 games season). I like Roussel and McKewen but they're not game breakers and Beagle and Motte don't bring anything in terms of offense. And I like Gaudette a lot but can he carry a bottom 6 90% on his own? I'm reallyyyyy not sure bout that
The x factors for them are:
-the goaltending holding up
-their depth at defense panning out
-someone stepping up in their bottom 6 to provide secondary scoring.
Here's how I'd build their lineup:
Miller-Horvat-Virtanen(I know this line is a bit weaker than the 2nd one in terms of offense but Horvat should take on the other team's top line)
Pearson-Pettersson-Boeser
Roussel-Gaudette-Sutter
Motte-Beagle-McKewen
Hughes-Schmidt
Edler-Myers
Juolevi-Benn
Demko
Holtby
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