Quoting: RedWings35
I was going more towards the full rebuild stage instead of half a$$ing and grabbing picks while giving young guns a chance to play this year. If you think the devils are gonna be competitive keeping guys like bastian and kuokenen on the roster then yikes. I’m looking for youth not 23+ year olds. Similar to Ottawa
Kuokkanen is good. Can play anywhere in line-up. And had a solid year.
Bastian is a physical 4th liner, well-liked by teammates.
Every good team has role players.
They are not the core.
Our core is Hughes, Hischier, Bratt, Sharangovich, Zacha, Smith, Severson, Blackwood.
Add to that core...
A tone-setting 4th line (Wood, McLeod, Bastian)
Scoring prospects (Holtz, Foote, Mercer, Clarke, Gritsyuk, Thompson)
Defensive dman prospects (Bahl, Mukhamadullin, Okhotyuk)
Offensive dman prospects (Edwards, Walsh)
Goalie prospects (Schmid, Daws)
Some quality role players (Kuokkanen, Siegenthaler, Boqvist)
...and you have most of the foundation that is needed.
Only other pieces we need - other than time to develop - are....
1. Another top-4 dman or two. Hopefully we get one in 2021 draft and another one of these prospects steps up.
2. A 3rd line RHC/RW until Mercer arrives
3. A back-up goalie until Daws, Schmid arrive.