Which is why I would be all in favor of getting a guy like Carrier to replace the bottom 6. The islanders should try to get that. We need guys who are quicker with the puck either way.
This is as much of a criticism of myself, because I've thought the same way. I do think getting generally successful bottom-6 players as veterans is not a good bet especially as free agents. First, the energy it takes to be a successful PK/energy player is a mid-late 20s thing. Second, it's (obviously) better to hit upon them luckily. Pageau is kind of an object lesson - he was an acquisition that made sense at the time, and it's reasonable to believe that NYI would not have made it the conference finals even once without him. But it's gone now - he's passed that window. And Carrier is an imitation version. There's another real thing version of that player - Yanni Gourde - but it's passed him by too. Really, you have to luck into players like Joshua, and Amadio, and (for us) MacLean, or be willing to draft them.
NYI have a drafted bottom 6 guy in Holmstrom, and they lucked into MaClean. They still have Cizikas, so that's 3. Engvall is also going to have to fit into a bottom 6 roll, so that's 4. imo the way to fill it in is (i) get rid of JGP, (ii) grab a couple of bottom 6 vets below the buried salary threshold - I mean replacement level depth centers, and (iii) sign a few of athletic wingers also below that threshold & try to luck into a hit like the Canucks got with Joshua. MacLean was found money for the Islanders. I have no problem going into next year with Cizikas, and MacLean being bottom 6 centers. That's great. NYI have a drafted bottom 6 center (Nelson) who will be imo ready sooner rather than later. So, imo no significant spending on the bottom 6. Fasching is a decent utility player, not athletic enough to be that energy player, but he has the IQ to fill anywhere.
(Ftr I really like Fasching because he gets the most out of talent that is not quite NHL level, and he strikes me as a future coach type - in the decent person style instead of the screaming crazy person vein.)