I like the Kupari addition, looking at a guy who won 54.6% of his draws last year, I think he slots nicely into the 4C spot, and takes on the PK1 role that Stenlund had last year, protecting Adam Lowry on weak side draws, with much better wheels in the postion.
I'd like to see Connor-Scheifele-Perfetti as the big dogs, a line capable of 90 goals easy.
2nd line probably Ehlers-Vilardi-Niedrreiter, two guys to do heavy lifting, making Ehlers more effective as the high forward in the offensive zone. Mostly offensive zone deployment, so faceoffs aren't that big of a deal.
Checking line I've got Iafallo-Lowry-Appleton, I think Iafallo adds scoring from that role. Lowry and Apples play a pretty good shut down game. Probably get the same defensive responsibility as last year.
4th line for me is Barron-Kupari-Namestnikov, a good skating line, with a little bit of edge.
Gustafsson as the 13th forward.
Much more aligned toward being 4 strong lines, and not having players have to punch above their weight class, with guys like Appleton and Stenlund playing top 6 roles at times last year, when the injury bell tolled.
Now the defense, looks like nothing is going to change.
That can't make anyone too happy...but maybe a better 5 player system, with a litte bit more chemistry after some time together improves the team marginally. Without adding Heinola seems like the team has probably hit their watermark for goals from defensemen. Dillon and Schmidt won't get any faster with another year under their belt.
That's my summer 2 cents...enjoy the offseason.
