Kovacevic is literally only 2 years older than Suzuki. He could have been part of this core. When they contend they're gonna need to go get a player like him anyway so why not just keep him. I don't believe xhekaj and barron have higher upside. Mailloux is a completely different player and I don't see him becoming a top 4 D either. Struble i don't even think is an NHL caliber player.
I said last season that most of the blueline would not be here if/when we are contenders again. I have said this board has been overrating Xhekaj and Barron, who have shown some good and bad in the AHL so we'll see what happens but this is what a rebuild is. Struble I think he is an NHL D but they rushed all these kids without letting them cook in the AHL first.
The Habs were highly unlikely to ever end up with Guhle, Hutson, Reinbacher, Mailloux, Engstrom, Xhekaj, Struble, Barron. No teams has their entire blueline made up of their own draft picks. What you have to do is collect as many of these assets that you can, hope they progress and then at times you will need to trade some for more experienced and better help in the hope of a quantity vs quality trade