Ritchie isn’t ready for the NHL and think the plan for him since before drafting him was for him to get healthy (he had shoulder surgery) play his d+1 year in juniors and expect him to dominate. I also think their will be an emphasis on getting RyJo and Drouin off to a fast start and I think they play Rantanen with RyJo and Drouin with MacK to try and facilitate that, because coke crunch time you know Bednar is going to run MacK Mikko and Makar when they need a goal.

Ritchie barely played hockey this year no way he’s ready to jump to the NHL.

I’m down for ZAR though.

LOC is not a 3rd liner; he just isn't. Kovalenko is likely to be a better option on 3RW but is at least 6 months from coming over so they have to fill that hole in another way for now. I agree Meyers is not ideal but they seem determined to go with him for some reason. There is still no reason for them leave that space since it can't be banked (due to them being in LTIR); might as well find a way to get Suter to sign.

Zero chance Ritchie even makes it out of the 2nd week of camp. He was a great depth find but that was for a reason. He needs a full season to heal from the injury he had last year and needs to prove he can take that next step in the OHL. This organization views him as a much higher ceiling than 4C, so I doubt he would even break into the league in that role to begin with. If Meyers can't cut it in camp, I think Ondrej Pavel is your next best bet to win that job. That being said, I disagree with your assessment of Meyers. His numbers SUCK, but he has good positioning, good D awareness and good FO ability. Where he struggles is with the "closeout" plays in the offensive zone. If he can refine the finishing ability (both passing and shooting), I think he has a chance to stick as the 4C.

ZAR makes perfect sense at league minimum for us.