Too much change, IMO.
As you say, health willing, the team should improve.
But:
- We really have an entirely new back-end. Two new goalies. Three new defensemen.
- We'll likely be running a different system
- We lost McLeod - he was with the team for six years. It's basically him, Nico and Bratt who were the "old timers". We've been talking about the on-ice impact of losing him, but I think the locker room impact is probably under-rated.
That's a ton of change IMO. It'll take time to resolve. We'll only know how the group meshes when they have to deal with adversity. Whether that happens right away or not, who knows?
Point 1 - wanted to disagree, but I can't. Though I will add that we still have 4 of last year's D. So while 3 new defensemen... only have to account for 2 per night.
Point 2 - we do have the whole off season and then preseason to figure that out. It's better than doing it in season. This is a perk, IMO.
Regarding Point 3 -
McLeod has been gone for awhile now. Whatever issues his loss has caused - that already happened. It's been 6 months.
As far as old timers / locker room guys - we should include:
Hamilton (3 seasons here, is older),
Hughes (5 seasons here),
Tatar (will be his 3rd season here - is older),
Palat (will be his 3rd season here - is older)
Haula (will be his 3rd season here - is older)
And then to a lesser degree
Meier (2nd full season here - 27 years)
Lazar (2nd full season here - 29 years)
So I will agree there is change. I don't think its as substantial as you may think. But it's also a bit more than I initially thought.