BTW, the D on opening day and the D on closing day are unlikely to be the same. If the sharks are in the hunt well and have already drafted Stenberg, Grier will not hesitate to trade a package including the '27 1st to bolster the D akin to Vegas getting Andersson. Grier can get someone like spence, and then wait and see.
there are a few possibilities if they draft stenberg and add just spence.
1. Best realistic case: Spence plays 21 mins/gm, goes for 40+ pts adding a skating element joining the rush and helping run the PP well with his excellent shot. Kesselring anchors the PK, but also chips in 30 points playing solid 20 minutes similar to his last year in Utah. Dickinson continues his development, helps on the PK, and finds a bit more offensive game putting up 25-30 pts playing upwards of 20 mins/gm of steady hockey. Mukh also takes some strides playing a relatively boring 18 mins/gm of solid #4/5D. Orlov provides consistent PK work, seeing his ice time in the 18 min range as he ages. The #6 might be cagnoni or allan or Desi playing spot PK or PP mins around 12-14 mins. The D is league average as a whole, but gets the job done as the forwards are a top 5 unit in the NHL as Celly, Smith, Misa, Eklund, Cherny, Stenberg, Graf, Wennberg, and Sherwood (and Toffoli, Gaudette, or Musty in case of injury) just come at you in waves and the sharks are a contender allowing grier to trade the '27 1st to bolster the D even more ahead of the TDL.
2. Worst case: Spence and kesselring stink or are injured. The D is nearly as bad as last year. The forwards stall in development a bit and the sharks have a similar year to last in which they arent bottom 5, but miss the POs as the D (and/or G) lets down the forwards.
3. Most likely: The D is passable (say bottom 10 but not bottom 3) as the Klingberg--> Spence, and Ferraro --> Kesselring proves a slight upgrade along side the experience growth from Dick and Mukh. The Forwards continue to develop and the sharks have a season akin to Utah. Make the PO's by a bit, lose in the first round, but take a step forward.
If the sharks had the exact same D as last year, it's fair to assume that we would actually win more games this year. It's fair to assume all the kids + Stenberg make the team naturally better. Most players do not step back in years 2 or 3. Celly may not quite equal what he did, but the rest of the forwards should be better.
Grier can create a passable D, see what he has in the kids, hope to make POs through natural development, and then at the TDL or next summer, get more aggressive with enough data on needs and timeline.
) as a big swing. 
