This is a great question. Each guy has pro's and con's. Without getting into things like acquisition cost and contract status, I think I'd rank them like this:
1. Dobson - he's proven it at the NHL level. He's right in the same core age range as the rest of the players we want to build around. He fits our biggest organizational weakness, which is puck moving top 4 D, and also happens to be a righty. As long as we keep Parayko, I'm not worried about his defensive deficiencies, real or imagined. Even if we move on from Parayko for some reason, I still think he'd be fine. Puck moving D-men lose the puck from time to time, it's part of the game, and when they do, it generally ends up in the back of the net as they're the last man back. I've seen Makar, Bouchard, and Hughes all make these kind of plays - it's just what happens when you have the puck on your stick so much.
2. Buium - His ceiling offensively is Hughes/Makar. If he was right-handed he's easily #1 and it wouldn't be close. He was the second youngest player in college last year, so he's still got a lot of runway left. He has two WJC gold medals and an NCAA title, and Denver looks pretty damn strong again this year. I think there are some concerns about his skating, as well as his size, but I think those are fairly overblown. He fits what we need most of all in this retool, a puck moving transition monster. I'm still so f***ing frustrated we didn't move up to take him or Dickinson and ended up with Jiricek.
3. Willander - I'm mainly picking Willander here over Nemec b/c we've seen how well he plays next to Lindstein and I think those two guys become the 2nd pair of the future while we hope Jiricek or someone else pops into that top guy role. Willander has decent size, but needs to pack on the LBs. His offense isn't anything to write home about, but I think he transitions the puck up well and paired with Lindstein turns our second paring into the prime Pulock/Pelech or Slavin/Pesce type.
4. Nemec - His stock has dropped recently, but he's still the most pro ready prospect of the three listed here. He's got a sturdy frame, he skates well, and he's already played in big games on the international stage (Winning Bronze in the 2022 Olympics, yes you read that right, he was on the Slovak Olympic team three years ago in the Beijing Olympics and played in all 7 games at the age of 18) - his offense is a concern. He was never a super dynamic offensive player, but he was playing at such high levels at such a young age everyone just assumed it would come with time. Well, it hasn't really yet, and that's put a big damper on his overall ceiling. He's doing well in the AHL, but it hasn't yet really translated to the NHL. For a guy who's calling card was being so advanced at such a young age, it's tough to tell where he shakes out.
