I agree - Tatar, Haula, Palat, Allen, and even Dillon are below-par pieces on this team.
Mercer is a puzzle - he's stalled and even regressed. Seems slower, less confident, and thus less effective than he should be, but it COULD be a lack of good linemates. I still think he'd get equal value in a trade where two strong pieces that just don't fit on their current rosters could be moved, but I'd like to address the rest first.
Pesce is excellent. He's the reason for Luke's growth IMO. Hamilton is still one of the best offensive D - albeit a slow guy - and he's looking far worse because Dillon, who is just as slow, is his partner. And Dillon has to be his partner because Siegenthaler-Kovasevic and Hughes-Pesce are so good.
We needed to play harder and hit more and be less able to be pushed around, so swapping Dillon out with Casey or Nemec or even Misyul might not work, plus those kids aren't 100% ready yet.
When you can look at your honest assessment, the problems are across the lineup but for sure heavily weighted in the lower lines. We also don't have a very strong rotate-in guy that can play bottom six.
PALAT-Hughes-Bratt
Meier-Hischier-Noesen
Cotter**-HAULA-Mercer*
TATAR-Lazar-Bastian
Hughes-Pesce
Siegenthaler-Kovasevic
Hamilton-DILLON
Markstrom
ALLEN
* - weird that a young guy not too long ago thought to be near-core is struggling
** - a guy who would be exceptional in a 4th line role is sporadic in a third line role.
There are a lot of holes on this team. We have very little in the way of NHL-ready or near-ready prospects at forward in the AHL. Beckman is scoring but apparently doesn't play defense well. Hardman and Halonen grind and work hard but maybe don't have the hands or fast enough brain to contribute, but maybe they'd be fine on the 4th line.
The defense has a lot of prospects even in the AHL (when not injured) - Hatakka has NHL experience and played credibly, but cannot stay healthy. Casey needs strength, Nemec needs to get his head together. Misyul seems okay, and Vilen seems to be struggling a little from where I'd hoped he'd be right now. Still, that's 5 guys that could either play or get here soon, but are any of them a good pairing for Dougie Hamilton with respect to providing speed/mobility and defensive backing for Dougie when he pinches, while still having some physicality? Looks like no, but maybe Misyul?
I know we have guys overseas and in college/juniors that are promising but none of them will help us this season. Gritsyuk, Hameenaho seem to be the best F options. Squires and Melovsky too, perhaps. Filmon has flamed out joining Stillman and Foote. Malek and Yegorov and Louhivaara all have strong potential in goal beyond Daws. Silayev is obviously a major prospect at D, along with Orlov and Karpovich being contenders for a future role.
We have a number of draft picks after the first rounder this year which is Calgary's. 5 in the second and third rounds. You'd have to think we make some moves with some of these guys and some of the draft picks for players under 27 who can be held onto for a while.
