That 2nd line is brutal. I get the Pitlick acquisition, but I'd much rather have Boldy on that 2nd line. Pitlick goes to the 4th line or back to waivers

Swap Pitlick and Rask and maybe Dewar with Duhaime (1 way contract next year, so I think the team will give him a shot to see if he's ready) and that's probably the roster they go into the season with imo. Evason and Guerin seem to like Rask so he'll be somewhere in the lineup unfortunately.

I agree Beckman/Rossi/Boldy is prolly Iowa's top line this season.

That 2nd line makes me miss MarJo and Rask playing with Fiala from last year...

Rask is better than 4 guys in this lineup. Why is he in the pressbox?

Wow, that's a good one. I'm just reading tea leaves here, but I think putting Rask at LW, where he's never played, was a signal that he won't be Fiala's center this year.

Also, I didn't know what to make of the Pitlick claiming. If we want a 4th line guy, we have Rau, Cramarossa, and Dewar who could all be that guy.

I don't get the acquisition. Can you help me understand why they claimed him? We already have Rau, Cramarossa, Dewar and Duhaime that could be 4th line guys.

Putting Rask at LW for the preseason means nothing. They already know what he is as a center. The team is looking for a better center than Rask to play with Fiala. They can't do that if Rask is playing center for the preseason games.

None of Rau, Cramarossa, and Dewar should be in the NHL as a regular. A 13F (Rau) or a callup (Dewar), maybe.

The team currently has 4 12/13F quality FWDs in Bjugstad, Gaudreau, Pitlick, and Rask looking like they will be on the gameday roster. None of the prospects have shown they are better options than those players either. There aren't any free agents left to sign (maybe a guy that doesn't get a PTO elsewhere?). So waiver pickups and throwing stuff at the wall is really the only way to try and improve the team.

The same goes for the 3RD spot. None of the players vying for that spot have been impressive. If I had to pick a bottom pair right now I'd take Lizotte and Kulikov out of that group.

The team just has a lot of meh players and nobody stepping up to take their spot.

I guess Guerin wants to have Dewar and Duhaime playing big roles in the minors, continuing to assess them. He apparently doesn't see Rau/Cramarossa as NHL regulars, and it's hard to argue against that. Acquiring Pitlick really carries no risk for the franchise, either, so I guess it's worth taking a flyer on. Evason has coached Pitlick, so there's that trust, too. Plus GMs generally tend to like shiny new toys, especially if they are free.

Could just be a depth player to have in case someone gets injured. Rau and Cramarossa haven't been very good at the NHL level so free alternatives are always good.

True, unless they box someone out. I guess I don't see Pitlick doing that. But I'm thinking back to when Fenton picked up Brad Hunt midseason and it messed up some of the callups, because we didn't have roster space. This isn't that though

Evason might have had a prospect camp with Pitlick? Evason came to MN with Fenton in 2018. Remember Fenton wanted BB gone and Evason as his HC but the owner wouldn't allow it?

If the last preseason game is the opening night lineup, then I was right except it's Duhaime instead of Dewar.

Too bad about Boldy getting hurt, but I think he still would have started in Iowa given his camp.

Rask was back skating with Gaudreau and Fiala at practice today, so guessing they weren't too impressed with Pitlick's game.