I'm pretty excited about Ryan Murray. As far as Ekblad goes, I was impressed by his play as an undrafted defenceman in the WJHCs a few months ago, but obviously he has quite a bit of work to do to get to this level. He's definitely a long shot. On the left side Alzner would be a strong, safe selection, as would Staal. Maybe Giordano. Hamonic is a rightie, so he may not work. And we shouldn't discount Bouwmeester's chances. At 35 and with a few strong playoff runs under his belt, he might look pretty good.
Getzlaf & Perry were really good cogs in the machine for us the past few weeks, especially from the Latvia game onwards. I have to admit that I wasn't impressed with their play on a consistent basis before then. I can imagine they and Benn were the last forwards the oppositions' defenders wanted to see bear down on them after having already taken the brunt of the Crosby and Toews lines. Its hard to say where exactly their games will be in 2018; they'll be ~33 by then, so who knows. Maybe a bit past their prime, as both guys have taken a good amount of abuse in their careers. I do, however, think they'll get the benefit of the doubt from the management team and coaching staff unless their play deteriorates substantially over the next 4 years.
And I do expect significant continuity in management and coaching; even with Yzerman gone, I expect someone from the Holland/Chiarelli/Armstrong group to take the reins, or perhaps Sakic with the more experienced group supporting him. Hard to say if Babcock returns, but even if not we'll probably see continuity in the staff and I wouldn't expect a drastic change in approach given the results accomplished in 2010 and 2014.
Carter, Seguin and Giroux...any of these three could quite easily be there over Johansen, O'Reilly or MacKinnon (or Duchene, Benn, Perry). Not to mention Nugen-Hopkins, Eberle, Neal, Kane, Drouin, Kane, etc. Carter is roughly the same age as Getzlaf and Perry, but plays a style (and has a skillset) that should allow him to perhaps age better. He could return in 2018. Compared to Giroux and Seguin, Johansen and O'Reilly are obviously the bigger, stronger, more defensively responsible forwards that seem to fit the Babcock mold and would presumably buy in and be able to execute within the possession system. Like Duchene, MacKinnon would be thrilled just to sit on the bench or in the press box and cheer on his teammates.
