Quoting: Prime_Jimbo
Plugging two young guys on the third line wouldn't be ideal IMO. The wings can always adjust but this way it's spread out. Beau is shooting well beyond any career avg and hugely benefiting from Petey. Domi is one of the few FAs worth pursuing.
As much as I like Schenn, I wouldn't count on him to continue to be the same player. He's pretty slow now and the GM continues to speak to speed and puck moving. I'm not sold Myers is as simply moved as many suggest. Does Aqualini want to pay a $5m bonus to ship him out? Teams like AZ are already close to cap floor now with teams aggressively shipping money out early at the TDL this year. It'll be costly, definitely more than a 3rd/4th, but I'd be thrilled if it were less. If they do move him, I'd hope they pursue a top 4 RHD and push Bear to bottom pair.
Aman is a 13th/14th forward at best. He's terrible in the faceoff dot and doesn't provide much of any offense.
I have similar feelings about Hronek but I'd rather seem him with Hughes than OEL. And I don't want Bear on top pair. Overall, our defense is pretty terrible outside Hughes offensive game and Bear is a 5/6 on a good team.
I don't really see a problem with Podkolzin and Kravtsov both on the 3rd line provided they have a decent 3C instead of Dries. I see more of a problem with one of them on the 4th line.
Fair enough on Schenn but if brought back he would be lower on the depth chart than he was previously with Hronek and Bear ahead of him. He should be solid enough as a bottom pairing guy and Alvin has spoken highly of him on numerous occasions.
Dhaliwal has suggested in the past that there is a market for Myers in the offseason once his signing bonus is paid. Out of all the cap dumps that a team could receive, taking back a big RHD is probably the best one given they can retain and flip him at the deadline. Anaheim specifically needs size on the back end to clear the crease and to not get pushed around, so they'd be a prime destination for the dump. Myers is more likely to waive for the nice weather and possibly joining a contender as well. Nobody really knows what Aquilini is thinking but the bottom line is shipping out Myers improves the odds of making the Playoffs next year, so I can't see why he'd be against it.
If they can find a RHC to take the role that Lazar was supposed to then sure Aman is off the team most likely. Its a relatively minor move and could go a lot of different ways.
I think people overreact to the idea that "Bear is a top pairing defenseman on our team." It's not that he's a top pairing guy, its that he's a solid, cheap partner for Hughes. We would reach the point of diminishing returns by playing a top pairing caliber guy with Hughes since Hughes is the one with the puck pushing play all the time. His partner just has to competent in supporting him, which Bear is. Plenty of Cup contenders pair their top pairing guys with lower caliber players (Hedman with Bogosian/Rutta, Slavin with DeAngelo/Burns, Rielly with Holl/Schenn now, etc.) including Rutherford in PIT who won a Cup with Letang and scraps and then another Cup with just the scraps. Ideally you get a pretty good top-4 guy for your #1 and because they play with prime minutes with a #1 caliber partner in a strong system they are elevated to being a top pairing caliber player (like Toews with Makar).