Quoting: Wadejos123
If we aern't gooing to rebuild then we need an atcual starting goalie. This team above is bound to pick like 12th overall. Lets eigther make the playoffs or get a top 5 pick. For 3 mil that you have maybe we can take a shot at husso? Or buyout Connely, and swap lankinen for campbell or kuemper. Or of course try to run it back with flower one more year... seems like he doesn't want to leave anyways
I don't think the team is going to rebuild, not with Kane and Toews still on the books, a limited prospect pool, and not enough assets to trade that are older in their career; you don't trade young assets like Debrincat or Hagel if you're rebuilding...that's a recipe for disaster. As such, I think more then likely it will be a retool. That said, this team is significantly younger then this year's team and is a nice retool. The biggest gap we have today is the first line LHD...that absolutely needs to get plugged. None of our prospects are ripe for that role and this has been a big part of why our defense isn't great. Jones, while good, needs a big body shut down guy to allow him to play more freely. Lindholm does that well, but the downside is his age IMO; maybe there is someone else we can get that is younger?
Regarding goalies, it's a fair point however, I'm higher on both Soderblom and Lankinen then most. Soderblom, only turning 23 this summer, has been outstanding in the AHL as his first pro season behind a bad team. Lankinen is still young for a goalie at 26 years old, and while I don't think he will quite develop into a #1, he's going to be a very solid backup. Comesso is also on the way, hopefully turning pro in two seasons. Between the three of them, we have a good future in net.
Noted on Connolly