Outside of goaltending, the Improvements IMO have to come from Sanderson, Stutzle, Chabot, Norris, Pinto, Greig... and hopefully not much regress from other players (Giroux and Perron are 36)
But outside of that, where do you see improvements?
Perron vs Tarasenko
Amadio vs Joseph
Gregor vs Kelly
Jensen vs Chychrun
Kleven vs Brannstrom
Well I guess for starters, outside of goaltending is something I take a bit of issue with as a statement. I am bullish on Ullmark vs. Korpisalo. There's 10 football fields between Korpisalo's ability and Ullmark's ability imo. Absolutely massive to go from arguably the worst starter in the league and a guy that was never suited for being a #1 to a guy that's never had a bad season in the league. Maybe I'm just excited because I railed against the Korpisalo signing so hard, he'd had 1 good season on the backs of 3 very poor ones prior to it, so he had no business getting that deal. I tried to accept it after the fact but in the back of my mind just tried to consider him a placeholder that hopefully would survive long enough to pass the torch. I'm ecstatic to go in to the season with a guy I can believe is capable of being "the guy" instead of someone I'm waiting to GTFO for a real solution.
Perron vs Tarasenko - Tarasenko brings more offense, but I think Perron can be the better fit. We'll see, but Tarasenko also wasn't here to end the season anyways. I'm hoping guys like Pinto/Norris take on more of the Tarasenko role, while perron can be more of a middle 6 guy elsewhere.
Amadio vs Joseph - 3rd line Goal scoring upgrade with an 18G per 82 over last 3 seasons vs. Joseph's 11. Also exceeded that pace in playoff run, which is a good sign. I like this one tbh, but I get why some do not.
Gregor vs Kelly - Wash. I liked Kelly, but he was a replaceable 4th liner looking for more money apparently. I do like that the guy they brought in is heralded for his speed.
Jensen vs Chychrun - Better fit and position imo. Chychrun stunk last year too, so if it's last year we're basing it on, we didn't really lose an effective player.
Kleven vs Brannstrom - 3rd pairing needs size imo, especially with the top 4 not being overly imposing. Better fit and much higher potential. Advanced stats or not, Brannstrom is a spare part imo, but mostly not worth his over the top qualifying offer and business had to be done.
And you said it yourself. I agree, I don't expect what I consider slight player personnel upgrades to turn the tide. It will be the massive goaltending upgrade, coaching (potentially, tbd), and the big guns improving/being healthy, or the ship is going nowhere. I'm confident that can happen and now that Andlauer/SS have had a full year, they will be fully supported on and off the ice. I'm also glad they didn't just mostly sit on their hands and run it back with mostly the same roster. A lot here seemed resigned to Korpisalo having to be the #1, but I railed hard that it had to be priority 1 this offseason to replace him, and I'm glad SS agreed.