It looks fun, at least.

I think it's pretty optimistic to project some of these guys into this lineup this early. Especially if Guerin and Evason are still around, I see them favoring hard nosed vets especially.

Ohgren is playing in the Swedish B league. I think it would be preferable to give him at least two years in Iowa before putting him into a top six role in the NHL.
Danielson would be a mid/late pick in his D+2 season, not many of those guys playing important roles.
Yurov is a wild card because he's the most skilled of any of our prospects, but he still doesn't have more than a fourth line role with his KHL team (still only 19 though).
Khusnutdinov I have no problems penciling into a middle six spot because he's been playing top six with his KHL team, and he will continue to be between now and then.
Beckman is tough to project too because his game has kind of stagnated.

So I think you need an all new third line if you want to go for peak realism.

I do like your point about starting the season with more cap space though, gives you options to go after a player like (examples from this season) Horvat, Meier and offer them extensions, or even a guy like Sam Bennett who comes with some term, wherever the holes are that season, you don't have to worry about future cap space AS much (with respect to some of the older prospects who will need new contracts after this).

Yeah agreed, peak realism would require changes. I'm with you on the points about it being a bit too optimistic with some of those younger players - there was a parent thread where I tried to echo some of that same thinking, but couldn't figure out how to really translate that into this thread without prompting the same discussion over again. Plus it is fun to see some new names/youth.

But it does seem more likely that we'd have a stripped down version of the above with vets dropped in over the fringe-ier types. Some form of [Foligno, Hartman, Bennett, pick-a-name-out-of-a-hat] over [Ohgren, Beckman, Yurov, 23 Draft Pick].

Gonna be interesting to see what happens this TDL and offseason with RFAs/draft - in theory, that should help clarify at least some of this.

@jnowariak - this is a trimmed down version of that other thread I had up. Anything besides the question marks at LD catch your eye?

Looks exciting! I really like that 4th line. I think Foligno is exactly where he needs to be and it makes every other line better.

I’d bet you Mats signs a Pavs type deal too. He’s still cooking. I’d rearrange the lines a bit and really think they’ll want a few more vets, but I feel very good about it. I think they get a vet to compete with Beckman/Yurov for one of those mid 6 W spots.

Kap-Danielson-Zucc
Boldy-Rossi-Yurov
Marat-Ek-Beckman
Duhaime-Dewar-Foligno

Midds/Lambos-Spurg
Brods-Faber
Lambos/Merrill-Addison

Merril/Midds and a vet FWD on the bench

I know this is a little out there, but in watching AZ last night, do you think Schmaltz is a potential guy to keep on the backburner for this idea? Would have control for the reminder of the 25 season, as well as that 25-26 year, which would be his 29 and 30 year old seasons. Curious what you think about him as an option - how his game will age, what AZ will look like at that time, etc?

Eichel is also another one I've wondered about, as he has that same term attached to him - i.e. 1.5 seasons of control, with the last year aligning with the cap relief, and fitting his 28 and 29 year old seasons.

I realize it's way too far to speculate accurately, but just curious if either of those names do anything for you as a purely hypothetical.