CRUCIAL draft coming up in the summer. We HAVE TO HIT on whoever we take with the first round pick, almost certainly sure to be a highly touted young forward who we desperately need to be GREAT.
I think as of right now you can't overstate the importance of adding another top-tier 1st line caliber young talent at forward, be it a C or a W. If we are able to get lucky and make the right pick, whether that's #1 or #10, and draft a stud who can be that Robin to go along with Batman(Bedard) then look out. Because i believe we already have many of the other key components:
- A true, #1 elite franchise player in Bedard.
- A young core of defenseman/D prospects that is not only equipped with high-end/top pairing potential(Vlasic/Levshunov/Korchinski) but is also very deep overall.
- A lot of depth and versatility with our prospects at the forward position in terms of players who can fill out the depth/middle 6(plus 4th line as well), and by and large the overall team speed here is a strength that we seem to be building around.
- A ton of cap space lined up at the right time in the coming years, and a major market(to go along with what will hopefully be a loaded group of young, up and coming talent) to help seduce the big name targets. We will be a hot destination if the youth movement works out.
I also strongly believe we will eventually have a new head coach by the time the vast majority of these prospects are ready to be full time NHLers.
We're definitely heading in the right direction and showing steady signs of improvement as a team so far this season....but ultimately we're still going to wind up with a decent draft pick, probably top 10ish depending on how things shake out. So whoever it is....he's GOTTA PAN OUT. We can't afford to miss on this one. We need another elite forward prospect BADLY. Its the one area when you look at our prospects that you see the gap between 98 and everyone else at forward, with just one more elite piece in there we would be set if everything else works out.