It is a deep forward group, they've done a great job augmenting what they inherited, turning over a third of the starting twelve. I expect all of Kuzmenko, Mikheyev, Lazar, and Joshua to make a solid impact in their own way.Carl Yagro wrote: ↑Thu Sep 22, 2022 6:07 pm You have to admit, that's a pretty decent and deep forward group, with guys like Hoglander and Lockwood, who have NHL experience waiting in the wings. These guys seem to all be on the same page, just focused and motivated to finally start consistently competing for the playoffs. You can see the resolve in the guys who've been here awhile during interviews, like Brock.
The starting goalie should be in the Vezina running. The backup? Huge question marks.
While the D corp, other than Hughes, does not look very impressive, remember not too long ago our 1A Dman was a greasy-haired, injury-proned Tanev? This forced an aging, mistake-prone 1B Edler to play top-pairing while babysitting a tiny dancer from Richmond. Doesn't look so bad now, does it?
JR & Baldy has some time and maybe a few regulars on the roster to do something about the backend this season, especially if new and younger pieces make older ones redundant.
Lol, D corp also doesn't look as bad as when we were hoping a Hutton-Gudbranson pairing was going to be key to the future, or that former 1st rounders like Sbisa and Pouliot would emerge and be part of the answer with a change of scenery, or that Del Zotto at 2 x $3 million would provide some veteran stability along with recently signed UFA forward Sam Gagner. Holy smokes, experiencing some PTSD just writing that out.
I have faith they'll swing something relatively soon, I think highly of Rathbone and like the bottom lineup and Abby depth with guys like Schenn, Burroughs, Keeper, and Juulsen, but a top 4 RHD is the difference between making the playoffs and making serious noise.