Downgrading our evaluation of Dmen

Trading Barron is a mistake imo. We'll be another 2 years determining what we really have in our defense, trading them prematurely like MTL normally does is not the right course of action.

Exactly, we still need to evaluate. This is why this is a 2025-2026 team.
A franchise cant afford to wait 4 years to evaluate a dman 2-3 years is enough.

Reinbacher should be a solid top 4 guy, no?

I think it’s more likely to see Barron becomes a 4/5 guy in the NHL than Xhekaj being anything more than a 7D/role player. Dude would need a lot of growth to justify $3M contract any time in the near future.

LOL, Reinbacher's floor is a #3 D man, he is basically Guhle with more offensive upside and a heavier shot. Our future 7 D man based on what we have right now is

Hutson-Reinbacher, these two paired together have similar chemistry and upside as Foote-Osolinsh did in the 90's.

Guhle-Konyushkov, this pairing is more in line with Markov-Subban pairing but I just don't know how physical Konyushkov is.

Xhekaj-Mailloux, this could end up as a one of the best 3rd pairings in the league. Both are physical with good skating and size, on any other team they have the potential to be a 2nd pairing.

Kovacevic as the 7th D man, or someone similar

Ad a side note Konyushkov and Mailloux can be swapped to give a whole new dynamic to the bottom 4 when things plateau or we need a heavier 2nd pairing vs western conference teams

Trading away D too early (again) would just leave a bad taste, I'm willing to wait on Barron in the hopes Reinbacher, Mailloux, and Barron lock up the right side for a decade. Love Matheson but I think Guhle is the 1LD of the future with Hutson and Xhekaj/Struble rounding us out. Trading some of the excess LD in the system makes sense because we have a plethora of them but I'd much prefer to keep our RHD options.