Yeah I don't want it to seem like Bura was a major core piece of that cup winning team, but he was quite emblematic of what Bednar wants on his guys to do in the neutral zone. As Poke and A Basin said while he was a very good fit for the system, he was also frustrating at times(hence why he's a 2nd liner not a first liner) and clearly someone that didn't need to be brought back after his contract ended.
As for Necas, I think his big thing will be shooting more than anything else. He has a decent shot and he's kind decent at all aspects of it, in terms of release, power, etc. I don't think he'll ever have a shot that goalies fear, but I think he's clearly a good enough playmaker that he should become a very well rounded offensive threat. And if they don't move Mitts, I think it would make sense to see him at C just to see if thats an option going forwards. Even then I don't think he needs to be at C to make the 2nd line a threat. His transition ability is insane and he will easily be able to drive a 2nd line with Mitts imo, considering he was already playing as good as he has this year mainly with Kotkaniemi.
Most players that aren't high level players are imperfect frustrating players at times. Even some of the high level ones like Mikko can be frustrating. You take the good with the bad.
Burakovsy was a 20 goal, 60 point, zone entry specialist, that could be an X factor OT hero with his shot, making $4.9M. He wasn't a huge loss, but he was a solid depth winger that provided an element that makes Bednar's system work better.
The Avs between Burky and Necas weren't really a rush team any more. They were a one line rush team. The other three were kind of meat and potatoes cycle lines.
Now Necas in theory can give them two rush lines again, being the zone entry specialist on the second line, like Burakovksy was. Which helped Kadri have a lot of success with his rush attack game. Now if they can find a quicker center, it could be a very good rush line.
Then if Landy comes back, they could have a 3rd line that's decent at rush attacks too, with Colton-Drury-Landy. Gabe was always the setup up man for Nate's rush attack in the neutral zone, and both Colton and Drury have shown they can use their speed to generate chances off the rush. Mikko took over for Gabe's role setting up Nate's transition game, and Drouin will probably have to take over for Mikko.
If they retool this team in the right way, they could get closer to the speed game they had in 22, which they lost at bit of, and benefited a lot from zone entries, which played a part in their Cup win.
