The new Core

[Thorner]

What are the pieces we currently have in place, roster wise or in the pipeline, who *reasonably* project out to be properly slotted on the potential Cup winning roster we are envisioning? What do we already have locked down, and what are we missing? At forward:

Skinner - Eichel - Reinhart

Olofsson - Unfilled - Cozens

Kahun - Unfilled - Unfilled

Unfilled - Unfilled - Okposo

- - - 

I am confident enough in Cozens that I expect him to nail down a top-6 role some time in the future. Other than him, there weren't any other prospects I was comfortable definitively slotting into a role, for the purposes of this exercise. It has to be someone I'd be confident in fulfilling their role on a cup-contending roster. I'm making a jump on Cozens, but I wouldn't be planning off-season moves around him being a future top-6 certainty, and especially not something that's going to happen in the next season: he needs proper insulation and should not be slotted there with certainty for next season.

In reality, I think he earns the 2C spot in due time, but I'd be very surprised if he does not amount to at least a bonafide top-6 fixture.

There are players like Thompson, Mittelstadt, Asplund that are viable candidates for the unfilled bottom-6 positions, if their development goes somewhat to plan - but guys like that could just as easily be out of the league in a few years. It shouldn't be too hard to fill the 4th line spots and 3rd line RW, though, I'd say, so that's not a huge concern. Eichel, Skinner, and Okposo are 3/4 forwards currently under contract with the team, but I didn't slot in Johansson because at his age I'm not sure he has a place on this team when/if we are contenders. Reinhart, Olofsson, and Kahun are RFAs I definitely can see having big roles on a contending roster. I put Kahun at 3rd line wing because expecting him to be capable of playing C or higher in the line-up is dubious. 

It comes down to, look, we need centres. Even if Cozens gets to 2C in timely fashion, we need another top 6 player. If the top-6 player we get now is a 2C, it fills the biggest area of need of the team to a certainty, insulates Cozens, and as with most centres, I don't see that player having an issue shifting to RW if/when Cozens is ready for C. If he's never ready, Cozens can stay at wing. Or, we grab a winger, easier to get, and the new 2C (or Cozens) shifts down to that 3C spot we also need to fill.

Edited July 5, 2020 by Thorny

[Thorner]

On defense, I see Dahlin becoming good enough that any number of players have a reasonable chance of holding down a spot beside him on the first pair. More prospects in the system at this position, too, that can reasonably amount to filing open positions. Maybe it needs to be revisited if we move a D asset or 2 to address the forwards, and as of now there's a LHD/RHD imbalance that needs to be leveled out, but I wouldn't call the defense an area where we are necessarily actively looking to ADD talent this off season. I'd be good with swapping a bottom 4 RHD for a bottom 4 LHD. 

Goalies - I honestly don't even know. You can't project a goalie prospect to ANYTHING of a certainty. Is Ullmark good enough to be a #1 on a Cup team? So much depends on the rest of the roster. I think at minimum, as others have mentioned, we'll need a solid back-up for the coming season. Maybe Ullmark is the guy LT, maybe not. 

Dahlin - Jokijarju

Unfilled - Ristolainen

McCabe - Montour/Miller

...I don't think we have that *ideal* 2nd pair LHD on the roster yet, but we maybe get our answer there from a combination of Byrson, Johnson, or Samuelsson. The group as a whole makes that a viable approach.

Ullmark/Unfilled

 

 

 

....and that's my interpretation of the Core. 

 

Edited July 5, 2020 by Thorny

[PalmTreeMafia]

On 7/4/2020 at 12:23 AM, Andrew Amerk said:

I watch a lot of Amerks games. 
 

No, he doesn’t have it. Just my opinion based on what I’ve seen. 

That's a crying shame. So much of this roster depended on him being a quality 2C. This is a playoff roster if Mitts became what J-Not envisioned when he made the O'Reilly trade:

 

Olofsson-Eichel-Reinhart

Skinner-Mittelstadt-Cozens

Johansson-Kahun-Thompson

Girgensons-Larsson-Okposo

 

Jokiharju-Dahlin

Ristolainen-McCabe

Montour-Miller

 

Ullmark

Hutton

 

[Thorner]

42 minutes ago, ManyRasmusFewWins said:

Girgensons-Larsson-Okposo

I'm starting to love seeing this, I do this too, we are all so conditioned with these guys, specifically Girgs and Larsson being 4th line staples around here that they go into nearly every line-up even though they are UFA haha.

Edited July 6, 2020 by Thorny

[Andrew Amerk]

10 hours ago, ManyRasmusFewWins said:

That's a crying shame. So much of this roster depended on him being a quality 2C. This is a playoff roster if Mitts became what J-Not envisioned when he made the O'Reilly trade:

 

I could be wrong, I’m just not seeing what others are. 

9 hours ago, Thorny said:

I'm starting to love seeing this, I do this too, we are all so conditioned with these guys, specifically Girgs and Larsson being 4th line staples around here that they go into nearly every line-up even though they are UFA haha.

Asplund looks to me ready for a 4th line spot.