Edited Apr. 14, 2023 at 7:12 p.m.
Pretty Good Overall Assessment and Projections
Huberdeau is fine on the 2nd line just like he was when he had his career year in FLA. He plays best with a Left Shot Centre and an Offensively Gifted Left Shot RW, so maybe Kadri, Mang, Ruzicka, Dube can fill that role OR the better Kylington Trade might be for Duclair (although I am intrigued by Bemström who could break out yet, simply with a change of scenery, but we do already have Coronato & Duehr who are both NHL Ready and may do just as well, if not better under Sutter)
Re-signing Lindholm & Hanifin should definitely be the priorities, but if Hanifin won’t re-sign long-term for similar to what Weegar got (for whatever reason), we could Trade him for a haul of Picks/Prospects and pursue Free Agent Ryan Graves or maybe even Carson Soucy to replace him
I agree and am 100% okay to move on from Kylington = ??? who played great with Tanev, but who knows how much longer Tanev will last/play, plus we don’t know how good or reliable Kylington will be moving forward and fortunately, we have Poirier developing nicely, who is even more offensively talented and might be NHL ready next season as well
Perhaps pursuing & signing Connor Clifton as Tanev’s long-term replacement is a good idea!? He’s much better than Stecher, no!?
Zadorov & Stecher wasn’t a Great Pairing (maybe Stecher would be better with Hanifin!?), so I’d prefer Tanev be matched with Zadorov OR we pursue Luke Schenn, Justin Holl or better yet, Trade for Jani Hakanpaa for the 3RD spot. If we do sign Clifton, Stecher or maybe even Dumba or Shattenkirk, we could move Tanev to 3RD for sheltered minutes next season. I do think Stecher is more of a 7th/Insurance D-Man, but he did play well and seemed like a very good fit for the locker room
I think any of the below are possible:
Pelletier/Mang/Toffoli - Lindholm - Toffoli/Kadri/Mang
Huberdeau - DOMI/Dube/Coronato - Kadri/Mang/DUCLAIR
Dube/Pelletier/Ruzicka - Backlund - Mang/Toffoli/Coronato
Coleman/ASTON-REESE - ACCIARI/Coleman/Lewis - Duehr
xLewis-Ruzicka/Hunt/B.Jones/MEP/Schwindt
Weegar - Andersson
Hanifin/GRAVES - CLIFTON/Tanev/Stecher/DUMBA
Zadorov/Kylington - Tanev/HAKANPAA/HOLL/SCHENN
xSTANLEY/Gilbert/Poirier - Stecher/Stone
Markstrom - JONAS JOHANSSON/D.Wolf
I do like the Vladar for Stanley idea, although I don’t think WPG Fans will. If we could secure a guy like Stanley or Bahl, we should probably move on from Zadorov and use his Cap Savings elsewhere
We have good Left Shot Depth: Ruzicka, Pelletier, Zary, Ben Jones, MEP, etc. so as much as I love Dube, if we can sign a Better 2C, like Domi, we could move on from Dube
I like Ruzicka too, but if we could pick up a more Physical Guy (like Dellandrea or Veleno) or perhaps an under-performing Early Draft Pick like Drury, R.Suzuki, Turcotte, Krebs, or even a guy like Bemstrom, etc. (somebody with a potentially higher ceiling), I wouldn’t be opposed to moving him either, since I don’t think Sutter particularly likes him or he’s the best fit, especially on our 4th line either. Similar to Vladar, when Ruzicka’s Hot, he’s HOT, but when he’s not, he’s not = COLD