Quoting: BestGMBenning
I personally don’t think Kappy gets moved. But if no Poulin then I think Archibald could very well earn a spot as he does have some physical attributes to his game. But however he is still a signing that I wished Hextall never made due to the younger players trying to make the team. But moving Kappy would make some sense but as of right now we’re stuck with him which isn’t a bad thing.
Keeping Ruhwedel around would be pretty nice but he really won’t get the playing time here like he did last season. I would honestly want to see him get some real playing time rather than be stuck as a 7th dman again. He’s actually too good for that.
I like Ruhwedel, and I really think one of POJ or Smith are good at LD on 3rd pairing, but wouldn;t keep both up. neither are solid defensively, but are nice puck rushers. I just think with Letang, Petry, Rutta = thats a lot of age, and keeping ruhwedel as 7th and RD makes the most sense.
Kapanen doesn;t have to go, and unlike most, I think his deal/caphit/length is okay, but when your key players are all old, and really old, it makes bringing in some youth AND having at least one guy to throw them if somebody gets too physical with one of the older stars is very important. (just 3 players under 25 yrs old out of 22 isn;t good)
Poulin making the team is a must, and while the system might not have anybody ready, Kapanen as a good trade piece (on a team that has few with Kapanen's value or mid level cap hit) for a ready now/upside young guy and a tough guy/13th makes sense. McGinn, Heinen, Blueger dont get the return kapanen could, or create needed cap space for nagging injuries/short term callups on a team that is old.
Its probably not doable but some kind of Morgan Frost and MacEwen deal for Kapanen (for example) would work well. I just think that with the KEY players all being so old, that some kind of transition has to begin to get more than just one young guy in there (Poulin). Nothing against heinen, blueger, etc... but this team needs some youth.