Agree 100% with this Todd. Good news is we are getting a decent picture of what our mid 20's players are worth going forward. Noesen, Lappin, Rooney, Agostino, Gabriel, Pietila have all proven to be fringe NHL'ers and at 25-27 years of age, are not likely to make any major developement. I would not be disappointed if all those players walked in this offseason. Bottom 6 forwards like Seney, Wood, Bratt, Anderson, Zacha, Mcleod, Studenic, Quennville all possess the ability to be great bottom 6 forwards with high ceilings and age on their side.
Assuming we re-sign Mojo this offseason, having Hall and him are a good top 2LW. Hischier is a top 2 C for certain, but Zajac is not and that is a big hole in this offense. Hopefully a guy like Hughes is a possibility for the Devs.
The only true #1 RW UFA was Stone, who has been taken off the market, however could make a cheap trade possible. Marchessault has 5 years remaining, but is slated as their 3rd RW behing Stone and Tuch. The knights are also 2.8M over next years salary cap with only 17 players signed, and RFA William Karlsson unsigned. I could see Marchessault being a quality #2 RW behind Palms for a solid RW pairing. March has 122 points in his 147 games with Vegas, outstanding for a 5M player. Something has to give in Vegas. If we part with a couple of our 2nd's, it could likely land us a top 6 forward. Kakko is not out of the picture either.
I like our young D-core these days. Excited to see White get some games in, and Smith is poised to be a top 4 D next season. They are young and all trending up.
Goaltending duo has also shown a ton of upside the second half of the season despite our results.
Also would not complain if we spent some of that massive cap space on Douchene/Dzingle/Panarin but those boys have alot of options, and competing suitors.
- bikeguy99
I appreciate this post. Who's Studenic that you have listed as a player with ability to be great bottom 6 forwards with high ceiling? meh. I'll pass on Duchene. Gimme Hughes and Panarin and call it a day.
Hall-Hischier-Bratt
Panarin-Hughes-Palmieri
Coleman-Zajac-Zacha
Wood-Seney/Rooney-Noesen
badabing.
I don't think they'll get Panarin, and I'm not campaigning they do.. but if they did, it certainly wouldn't make us worse. MoJo will be cheaper, but literally play half the games and put up half the points.. leaving us with less points in the standings. I'm ok with passing on MoJo unless there's no way he'd play anywhere but the 3rd line, which is really where he should be anyway. 3rd line LW on a good team.
