Oof you do not want strome as your 1C. He's a fine 2C. That's about it.

We know. But he had his best seasons playing next to Kane, and Kaprizov is a similar player.

Moreover, he's a far better talent and option to play there than Viktor f*cking Rask. He would also be serving as a stop-gap until either Rossi is ready to take over as 1C or if Patrick can hit on his potential.

That center depth blows what we had this season outta the water.

And if Strome and Patrick Struggle, I am sure Dean could just promote Rask back there… I know it’s not ideal, but it does give the risk a little backup plan

One concern with the lineup is that Billy has talked about wanting to add size/strength defensively and Addison and Menell both offer less grit than Dumba and Soucy

I guess that's true but that's not saying much. It'd be nearly impossible to have worse center depth.
From an outside perspective I'd rather trade dumba for a better center. Someone like monahan. Then go after a budget winger.