Where's Reichel and Vlasic?

Forgot to do the defense!

No Reichel? Tinordi on the top pair? You ok, @ChiHawk? haha.

For realz, though. I'm excited to see how the lines end up to start the season.

Tinordi? Good Lord!

I don't see Bedard pairing with Reichel early on. Later in the season sure. Also don't see Bedard honestly as 1C. My guess is Tyler Johnson starts there with Bedard on the wing, or they shelter Bedard further down the lineup in the 2C or 3C slot. So many different options can go into the blender. Ultimately, we aren't playing to win, we are playing to develop the young guys.

If Reichel isn't a lock, I don't know who is. I predict Guttman, Vlasic, Kaiser, and Phillips to all make very strong cases for themselves to make the NHL roster. But, something is gonna have to give in that forward group. Do they go the simple route and send waiver exempt players down to start the season, or do they run a true competition, waivers be damned?

I'm sure Reichel and Bedard will see ice time together, but yeah, I have a feeling they want to really push Reichel into a C role this year and see if he can grow into it. So, they are likely to be running their own lines, 1C 2C, a majority of the time.

Ultimately, at least with the prospects/young players we have now, the goal is probably Bedard, Reichel, Kurashev until it doesn't work as the 1, 2 and 3rd line centers. I have my doubts, especially with Reichel being a center more than the other two, but my guess is they are penciling in those guys for now until they don't work at C.