Panarin-Zib-Laf
Cuylle-Trocheck-Miller
Sheary-Laba-Raddysh
Edstrom-Carrick-Rempe
Gavrikov-Fox
Soucy-Borgen
Vaak-Schneider
Igor
Those were the players who played game 1 last year (though maybe not the exact lines/pairings). Here are the projected lines and pairings for game 1 next year:
Gabe-Zib-Laf
Cuylle-Miller-Dorofeyev
Kartye-Laba-Bjorkstrand
Chmelar-Veleno-Raddysh
Gavrikov-Fox
Pettersson-Durzi
Robertson/Smits-Schneider
Igor
Gabe is much younger than Panarin, but he is a downgrade in terms of production. However, Laf was much better with Gabe on that line, so let's call that a wash.
We replaced Trocheck with Dorofeyev on the 2nd line. More goal scoring, less assists and faceoffs. Call it a wash.
On the 3rd line, Kartye and Bjorkstrand are upgrades over Sheary and Raddysh. And on the 4th line, Chmelar and Raddysh are upgrades over Edstrom and Rempe, but Veleno is a downgrade over Carrick, so call that a wash.
So, our 3rd line is better and we are overall deeper than last year. More importantly, perhaps, is that we got much younger in two key spots in the top 6 without sacrificing production.
On defense, the 1st pair is the same, but the 2nd and 3rd pairs are better. In goal, we may have gotten worse replacing Quick with Korpisalo, but we'll see.
Overall, we are better than the team we started with last year, but not significantly so. More depth, less reliance on a few vets, with more young players playing key roles.
That's the current team. Now let's look at the farm system. We used 4 1st round picks (Smits, 2 on Doro, 1 on Pettersson). We got 3 players who should all play for us for many years, which is a good return for those picks. We also added Greentree and Beaudoin, both recent 1st round picks. We also drafted 8 other players to add more depth and potential to our farm system.
So, the final analysis is that both the team and the farm system have gotten younger and better. It's a good step in the right direction, but we obviously need more. We need Gabe and Laf to become consistent point per game players. We need Cuylle to take a step forward, and for Doro to keep building on what he did in Vegas. We need guys like Smits, Emery, Greentree and Beaudoin to develop. We need to find replacements for Zib and Miller over the next 2 or 3 years. We need to figure out what the plan is going forward with Fox (re-sign or trade) and continue to backfill the defense to eventually replace Gavrikov, Petterson and Durzi.
I think we are in pretty good shape everywhere but at center. Maybe Beaudoin becomes a 2C, but we absolutely need to find bona fide 1C somewhere. Right now, the only plan there seems to be the hope that McDavid will sign with us as a UFA.
We're set in goal but will need to find the heir apparent to Igor before too long, and I'd like to add a stud RHD to the mix to eventually replace Fox.
