Quoting: SirQuacksALot
If you look at Points/60 mins, Kase is ahead of Ritchie, Vermy, and even Cogs. Yeah Ritchie has goals, but half of those have been Getzlaf feeds, which are hard to screw up. He doesn't have many assists, indicating his overall scoring ability hasn't been great. Sure he had two in one game recently, but if you look at his recent history, they're pretty spread out. I think he could grow into a Chris Stewart type of player. Strong 4th liner, who can fill in upper lines temporarily for injuries.
As far as Max Jones goes, he is at the top of the OHL in points per game. Obviously his total number is low since he's been out, but his pace in junior prior to injury mimics that of Corey Perry's junior years. Now, I'm not saying he is going to be another Corey Perry, but the potential is there. He's still getting shots off since he's been back, so just let him settle back into things, and he'll be fine. I doubt Sam will make the club, since I'm hoping we acquire center depth.
Not sure what stats you're using, but Ritchie is ahead of Kase in pts/60 (
http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/). Regardless, Kase got off to a flying start and did very well. He's slowed significantly since. I'm not saying that Kase is bad and shouldn't be in the team, I just don't think he's worthy of playing on the top line yet and I don't see the synergy between the speedy, smaller-framed Kase and Getzlaf. I also think your prediction of Ritchie being a Chris Stewart type player is a little off. Chris Stewart had the talent coming into the league and never really tried. Meanwhile, Ritchie came into the league last year, struggled because of his poor conditioning and improved significantly over the summer. I'm not saying that Ritchie will be some stud powerforward, I don't think he has the IQ for it. However, he's got more potential than a 4th liner. Top 6 winger with size putting up 20-20 + 100 PIMs, maybe 30-30 for one or two seasons is where I see him ending up if he doesn't fall off a cliff once he gets a big pay day.
Admittedly, I'm not a massive fan of Max Jones as I struggle to see how his game will translate to the NHL level, but you've been far to generous and have put too much emphasis on PPG. Not enough of a sample size to say that Max Jones is doing "well" at the OHL level. He's doing ok and, tbf to him, he's been injured a lot. Still, the difference between a promising prospect who needs a lot of seasoning and a call-up to the NHL level isn't one injury-ridden season at a junior level. Expecting Max Jones to make the big squad next season is totally unrealistic and unfair on him.
A replacement C would be nice. I'll stick with my original line combination, but you're more than welcome to yours.