Not trying to sound like a total downer, but hard to see a lot of optimism with the players from last year's team mentioned in this thread.
Imagine Hardman and Halonen will pursue deals elsewhere and if Nolan Foote was going to be anything that would have happened by now.
It might be nice if Gritsyuk and Hameenaho are in Utica - at least for the first half of the year. But that leaves a big need for 4A players who have proven capable of scoring in the AHL; like the Chase De Leos or Ben Sextons of previous seasons.
Defensively, it will be interesting to see Edwards and Casey playing together if they're reunited from their Michigan days - and I'd imagine Vilen returns - imagine Colton White is the veteran presence - but again it seems like the Comets need to look outside the organization for true AHL caliber players (something they were either unwilling or unable to do this past season).
@Bad Goalie has seen both Daws and Poulter more than most but I'm not sure either is the franchise goalie of the future to this point. Signing an AHL veteran as a starter to mentor a prospect might be the way to go.