Modifié 25 mars 2020 à 14 h 31
Quoting: Wqrrior
Look at that right wing.... it's a choice between him and Kostin.
It's not, but even if it was Kostin should absolutely go first. He only recently became pretty good at the AHL level. Kyrou has been an elite talent at every level he's played at except the NHL so far, and he hasn't exactly been bad there either. Why rush Kostin into a third line wing position when we've got someone who can for sure play there already?
But, yes, as
@A_K has said, Kostin can play left (he's actually left handed so that would make more sense- for some reason it seems like a lot of Russian players like Tarasenko, Kucherov, Panarin play their off hand). Perron has also played a lot of left. Blais came up as a righty and converted to left. Schenn meanwhile was on the right of O'Reilly for awhile this season. Handedness isn't as big of a deal in forwards as it is in defensemen, it becomes a problem when they can't stick on a consistent side (an issue I think we're going to have with Blais if he doesn't get to settle down in a spot).
It's also a long term play though- we're losing at least two forwards after next year (Steen and Bozak), maybe Schwartz as well if he wants a lot of money and an additional roster player in the expansion draft (who is hopefully named Justin Faulk but could be Perron or Sanford). Having Kyrou around makes losing those guys more manageable and all that roster turnover gives him a lot of places to stick.
An ideal lineup after next year I think would look like:
Perron-O'Reilly-Tarasenko
Sanford-Thomas-Kyrou
Blais-Schenn-Kostin
MacEachern-Barbashev-Sundqvist
If you can retain Schwartz he can mix in the top nine, probably on Schenn's line somewhere, shift Blais or Kostin down and take MacEachern out, but that's a very good forward core. So just make it work for next year. Kostin spending some more time in the AHL probably isn't the worst thing, but also MacEachern doesn't need to be an everyday player (even though I think he's very good) so there's a fourth line spot open too if you have to have him the NHL. Looking at how Berube managed Thomas and Kyrou, Kostin will probably alternate in and out of the lineup anyway his rookie season.
I share your LHD concern, but that would be mitigated a lot by re-signing Pietrangelo (who can carry a lesser partner on the left if needed), signing Perunovich and having Mikkola and Walman to a lesser extent take the next steps. As a last resort, good veteran LHD are also decently cheap (cheaper than losing a player like Kyrou) and easy to find. Look at Scandella and Gunnarsson. And again, with the expansion draft and having Pietrangelo, Parayko and Dunn, Cholowski would almost certainly be exposed and if he's taken, was one year of him worth the career Detroit probably gets out of Kyrou? Maybe, if we win another cup, but nothing's guaranteed there and you gotta balance present and future to stay competitive long term.