The entire team is worse because Zito had to downgrade in every spot where they had personnel changes. On paper... Greer is worse than Lomberg, Schmidt is worse than OEL, Nosek is worse than Stenlund, JBo is worse than Tarasenko, ABo is a significant downgrade from Montour, Cousins as pot stirrer will be missed...
I don't think that the Panthers will be a top5 team in the league, more like a top10 team, in this season.
Possibly, a not as good regular season team is in the cards. But I think a more apt comparison is to the playoff team we ran with.
Top 6 is the same
Luostarinen Lundell Samoskevich - We will see how Samo compares to Tarasenko. And Jesper is probably the replacement if it doesnt workout. But for now this is a we'll see. But on the positive here is Lundell is probably better? And it feels like Lousty has been on the roster for a decade, but he is only 26 and is probably going to be better too.
Gadjo Nosek/Jesper - Greer (Entwistle mixed in). Stenlund is the biggest lost here. Mainly for PK purposes. Stenlund was huge for us there. So they will need to figure that out.
Lomberg didnt even play every playoff game. Lorentz and Okposo played way more games than Lomberg. Does not mean I wont miss him. I understand he got hurt, but he was a big personality in the locker room for sure. But as an "enforcer", Gadjo fits the bill here. I actually feel like we should have kept Lorentz over Greer or Entwistle but we will see.
The D is really where my biggest questions are honestly
Kulikov on the 2nd pair is an oh no moment for me lol. Perhaps they are giving Adam a few games to see if he's worthy of moving up. I look at Mikkola Kulikov and I automatically think Mitchell Gudbranson.
Balinskis has been very promising since last year so it would be cool to see how he does. I think Adam will be handled like Montour was handled when he first got here. He started on the 3rd pair and see if he can move up. The difference is we arent waiting 2 seasons to give him reigns on PP1. I just dont know if I want Balinskis as his partner as he will be counted on to shelter him a bit. Would rather have seen Kuli or Mikko there to do that.
