Quoting: A_Habs_fan
I mean, Werenski’s CBJ’s top D but Gavrikov and Peeke are both solid defensively and physical guys ( something they lacked a bit hence adding Gudbaranson ) and guys like Boqvist, Blankenburg, Bean are more skill guys, their defence isn’t exactly good but it’s not bad on paper. CBJ’s forward are also stacked ( even if missing a top Center ). Now they would need to clear cap to sign Laine but Voracek-Jenner-Laine, Nyquist-Sillinger-Bjorkstrand, Johnson-Roslovic-Texier is pretty promising
I mean, Gaudreau and Laine are obviously elite top line talents. I do like their middle six wings with guys like Voracek (aging though), Nyquist (also wrong side of 30), Texier, and Bjorkstrand (love him). But like, Jenner’s a 2C, and Roslovic is ideally your 3C. Sillinger’s only a middle six centre as well (not sure he’ll turn into a 1C, he obviously made the NHL faster than everyone thought but his high-end projection was 2C) and it’s probably too early to expect much from Johnson other than middle six production. So you’ve got a good, deep, not great offense that could use another top line talent (specifically a 1C) and not one of them except Bemstrom is even decent in their own zone lol (Bjorkstrand may have just had a bad season, but everyone else was REALLY bad defensively). Werenski is a top pair LD. Maybe I’m off base, but I view Gavrikov, Bean, and Boqvist as guys that are decent #4 options, or good 3rd pair guys. So they are lacking a true top pair RD, and ideally a stronger #3. Also Gavrikov was their worst defenseman defensively last year lol. And then Merzlikins is solid, but not a top half starter imo (19th in GSAX for goalies with 35+ games played puts him right about where I’d rank him tbh).
They’ve got a lot of guys coming (Johnson should be really good, Jiricek should fill that 1RD hole, Ceulemans/Mateychuk give some other depth options and I reckon at least one of them turns into a good #3 (that should be a high end second pair), and they’ve got great depth at every position in their prospect pool (Tarasov and Ivanov in net, then LDBB, Chinakhov, Marchenko, Foudy, Voronkov, Dumais, Dolzhenkov, etc. up front, and a couple other interesting guys on the back end, like Svozil). So they definitely have a very bright future. I just don’t know if they’ll have that 1C unless Johnson sticks up the middle, but regardless their competitive window doesn’t open until their great D prospects (Jiricek, Mateychuk, Ceulemans) round out their top 4 to give Merzlikins (or Tarasov) a little bit of help, because their forwards certainly aren’t doing anything in that regard. So they’ll probably start being good 2-3 years from now, but I don’t see them making the playoffs in a stacked eastern conference (last year’s top 8, plus NYI presumably bouncing back, and Ottawa and Detroit making massive improvements means they’d be lucky to finish top 10 honestly).