Last year's loss of Corado could have been avoided if they had sent Hutton down for a day. I know Hutton earned the spot, but keeping as much NHL capable depth as possible is important to winning the long game, and players always end up dropping like flies
So much angst over what to do with 6/7 guys on a team many predict to be another lottery pick team this season..
I don't share your concerns over the loss of Corado, and think he is a good reference in trying to guess what management will do with its bottom group of blue liners...
Considering we are discussing depth players and the AHL is filled with depth players from which to choose from, the ones management keeps should have some skill set that sets them above the others...
Corado was overly vanilla....Not big, not physical, not a great skater, not an offensive player etc., etc....
Sbisa has value because his game has bite which the team desperately needs and is appreciated by the teams core players as evidenced by some of their comments this off season, and other than his penchant for taking too long to make the play at times is a very serviceable 5/6 player who makes the PK better....
I can see Pedan being protected because his game is similar to Sbisa's with more nastiness....He needs to see the ice more this season and given that it will be another long one now would a good time to give it to him...
Biega is a better player than Corado, but of the 3 were discussing would be the more vanilla which is why I would expose him if required....
Another player I expect to make his way into the conversation this year is Cederholm who quietly had a very good season in the ECHL and who I'm going to be anxious to watch at camp this year...
While Benning hasn't been able to land a forward with bite this offseason, he is very systematically building a back end that has skill and size with a good degree of nastiness...
And I agree with the poster who commented that the game will change if the league decides to adopt Bobby Orr's idea of putting the red line back in which would make players like Pedan and Sbisa even more valuable...
Take care...