They need a couple more 2nd rounders

For real! They should even be contenders once prospects like Shea Weber and Jakub Voracek join the fray, those are future cornerstones.

Honestly though, if Cooley, Gunther, Geekie, etc pan out, and Söderström takes a step, all they really need to be a true contender is a number 1 dman. Unless Söderström or Moser waaay surpass expectations, they'll likely need to look at adding either in the draft or through trade. It's unlikely, but not impossible, that they could look at someone like Montour next season or perhaps even Ekblad in 2025, but that's not something they should rely on.

In all seriousness, I think yotes are looking good up front. They need a top four dman or two. If Simashev, Duda, Morden, Lamoureux all develop…could be deep squad.

Hayton stays as 1C, he was on a 65 point pace on the top line and Keller’s 2nd half happened because hayton moved up. Maccelli-Cooley-Crouse should be the 2nd line with Zucker-Bjugstad-Guenther as the 3rd. They need to sign Dumba and make the top pair Valimaki-dumba, moser-durzi, stecher-söderstrom, brown doesn’t sniff the lineup he’s awful.

I expect that AZ will sign McBain and that will influence the forward depth. I really want to see Cooley and Gunther together, but they need someone that can be a veteran that can play with pace and protect them from the expected rookie mistakes. Crouse seems to be that guy, but I don't want to break him away from Maccelli. Maybe you are right and Boogy and Zucker are the right guys to take advantage Maccelli's elite passing. Forwards are looking decent, defense is going to get exposed.

Keller/Hayton/Schmaltz
Crouse/Cooley/Gunther
Maccelli/Boogy/Zucker
Kerfoot/McBain/Boyd
extras: O'Brien and Carcone

What needs to change? The location of the team

Yes and yotes seriously need to move

Deep if ALL their prospects back there develop, the same of which can be said for literally every other team in the NHL, and we all know how realistic that is. Also, I'm not sure if Matias Maccelli counts as a draft success story or more of a developmental success story. Gotta be one or the other, but not both

On paper, the forward group definitely has talent to boast, but I want to see it operate as a seriously functional corps before I declare such meaningful progress having been made. Obviously defense still needs tons of work, and I didn't like them going so far off the board to select Simashev, still think that was a mistake that could come back to bite them in the ass even if Simashev pans out to be a decent defender at the NHL level