Did you or did you not say that if we are focused on being a playoff team we can't use Beck/Kapanen as a Dvorak replacement?
Yes, if we want to be in a better playoff position going into next season, we need to improve our depth, not decrease it.
Dvorak isn't the specific player that is required.
Not sure why you'd confuse that
We aren't talking about today, we are talking next season.
Yes. In 5 months from now, an NHL roster with
Suzuki - Dach/Newhook - Evans - Dvorak - Beck/Kapanen
Has better NHL C depth than one with
Suzuki - Dach/Newhook - Evans - Beck/Kapanen
Again, not sure why that's confusing or debatable.
If we take this argument literally then you are claiming that replacing an effecctive vet (Armia) with an unproven rookie (Demidov) means less depth and is not a great recipe for a team looking to improve on its playoff chances, right?
No, the equivalent to your analogy would be saying that a team with Demidov & Armia has better depth than one with just Demidov. Pretty straightforward.
Because you are probably the only person in the world who thinks that, it's always about the players in question. If we re-sign everybody execept Dvorak and have Demidov bump Newhook down to 3C we've improved our depth and our playoff odds.
Im not sure what this paragraph even means?
We do have Demidov as a (likely) net add. He's going to most likely help improve our top 9. Wether or not he plays C remains to be seen.
But if you're suggesting that re-signing Pezzetta makes us better off than re-signing Dvorak, I'll politely disagree.
Demidov and Reinbacher are the two rookie additions most likely to improve our roster next year. Imo, it's quite evident that Pezzetta & Savard are the two UFAs least useful to retain.
Dvorak & Armia replaced by Beck/Kapanen doesn't make our NHL roster better come September, and it makes our injury depth considerably worse.
Depth to survive the inevitable injury issues of an 82 game season is crucial, even more so for a team with all its core players 25U.
What does he bring that Evans doesn't?
Shoots Left
Better puck distributor on offense.
Nobody is talking about an external upgrade so I'm not sure why you feel the need to repeat it and then question it.
Just responding to your comment. Perhaps I misunderstood but in several of your replies you allude to upgrading the position and/or adding a "different element" (which I presumed to mean "better element" if net improved roster is the purpose).
I'm only replying to you. Perhaps you're responses to me are based on lumping my replies into other posters comments
In any case, as I said awhile back... Agree to disagree. Dvorak has been excellent in his role with us this year. That it coincides with his first full healthy season in years gives me the confidence that at 29, he's likely to be able to maintain this season's level of play for at least 1-2 years.
We can't replace him internally without both reducing our depth and reducing the immediate quality of our bottom 6 C.
If the goal is for the roster to be better positioned to compete for the playoffs in September than we were last September, replacing the 4 UFA vets with 4 rookies is not a great option. Of the 4, Dvorak & Armia are the best fits to re-sign IF the price/term make sense, and of the two, NHL C depth is the more valuable. Nothing you've offered makes a compelling counter argument so I think we can leave this dead horse alone.
Cheers