Yeah, Brunette is gone given all of the experienced options available. They'll be a lesser team on paper but in part it depends on whether they can get some value in free agency and trades. Leadership looks to be an issue and that's tricky to fix and force. Maybe they just need to be patient but Huberdeau is a year away from a big raise. He was not the 100+ point franchise player type in the playoffs.
They'll still be deep but the mix up front is off. They missed Marchment, although I'm not sure he's altogether the power forward they need. Plus, he's UFA. Hornqvist did some good things but he's a bottom sixer and PP net front guy only. They should have played Thornton sooner. I mostly wonder if they won't move Weegar for either a lefty D or a package of futures to restructure. In general they were not D first or a patient checking team and that's not going to fly come playoff time without at least a humming PP and more headliner impact. They were not as good as they believed based off of regular season play. Different game come playoff time and no one knows better how to exemplify that than Tampa.
