Ottawa making the moves they've made make them a contender for a playoff spot in the East. I think one of the reasons for how shitty they've been - even for a rebuilding team - is that the band-aids they've used to fill in the line-up around the kids have been awful. Young players have ups and downs, that's life, but when they do you hope to have some veterans there to keep their finger in the dam and Ottawa just didn't have that.
Debrincat and Giroux are great additions because they can do just that (and frankly it should be less of a problem given the experience the kids have gained already). The blue line still needs some depth, and goaltending is always a question mark unless you have one of the 6 or so elite ones, but they seemed poised to me to make the biggest jump. They're clearly better than Buffalo, Montreal, and Detroit and should be nipping at Boston. They'd need a lot of breaks and wind in their sails to challenge Florida, Toronto, or Tampa, but they're should be a reason to out to Kanata next year. The transit will be terrible and you'll be late, but they'll be a reason to go.