Ok… my thoughts FWIW (very little).
Kopitar is fine if his minutes are managed fine. Personally I’m playing Kopitar, Danault and Byfield even minutes at 5/5 and the splitting up the special teams so that Byfield definitely plays regularly on the PP and Kopitar only plays PP or PK.
Byfield has to play with 2 high tempo veteran players. Kempe and someone else, either a FA like Fiala or Arvidsson off the current roster. I’d then play Arty with Danault and Moore. Kopitar then plays with the best of the rest because we have to play the long game here, maybe Fagemo gets a look. I’m not talking about how the 4th line needs to look because it won’t make or break us. However, I’d like to see Thomas and/or JAD get long looks.
If we need to sign AA we have huge issues. Trading Iaffalo is more likely to help than hinder, so I’d move him. They need to put Vilardi, Kupari and of Turcotte out there with a couple of decent players and give how Iafallo regressed in the second half Turcotte (if fit) can fill the puck hound role. Perhaps stick Kupari or Vilardi on the other wing and there’s a line for Kopitar to mentor.
On D I think we could easily end up with a right side of Doughty, Clarke and Spence. Spence’s emergence and Clarke being a potential Elite D man means they have a conundrum with Durzi. I’m not sure about him and his upside and I like his intangibles but on balance if Clarke is ready then there’s a chance he goes. The left side is Anderson, Bjornföt and AN OTHER. If theres a trade to be made it’s there, but not Chychrun, someone thats play with a bit of spite and keep the front of the net clear. Moverare is a solid 7th D, or Walker can do that job if we cannot move him.
I’d trade Roy given we’d be bringing some physicality on the left and his limitations were exposed. He probably has some trade value so time to move him on. I’d let Maatta and Edler go, I think Maatta had a solid season but he’s priced himself out of a job here IMO.
We definitely need to find a good goaltending prospect but they will probably go with the current pair for now.
They can’t just tinker at the edges though. Moving Roy and Iaffalo clears some salary for scoring help and beefing up the left hand side. They then need to show faith in the key prospects or start moving some of them. If the think Byfield and co have it in them, then put them in the right roles - the ones they know. If not then they need a major rethink because is the need Kopitar to play anything north of 18 minutes on average we have a problem. If part of the problem is that Kopitar will sulk if his ice time goes down (purely speculation on my part), then move him for anything we can get.
