Honestly I like our bottom 6 better now. I know people are going to say it’s still a problem but I trust the growth of Drew O’Connor and Alex Nylander to end up blossoming this season. Perhaps Poulin ends up making the team as well. Rem Pitlick is also a nice piece to have in that bottom 6. Andreas Johnsson. They maybe a bunch of project type of players but they are low risk high reward add ons. I trust that Sully and the coaching staff will make our bottom 6 one of the best in the league. They have the legs, speed, defence, versatility, grit. It’ll be fun to see how they turn out. Overall depth is a bit better as well. Tomas Tatar would be amazing to have. But I don’t see it happening as the days go by and we still have the cap space to somehow clear for him.

Libor Hajek is kinda buns, but Pysyk would be a small upgrade over Ruhwedel I think. Overall, there is a clear emphasis on defense with this team's depth. In theory, I think it could work, but in practice...I don't know. I'm a little worried about the lack of offense in the bottom 6, but if you get a healthy Karlsson then he alone can add significant production. I think this team is certainly better than whatever the hell last year's bottom 6 and defense was.

Cap space is our only roadblock, really. Will be interesting to see how it shakes out

agreed. Hajek maybe could bounce back in WBS hopefully, he’s just never really put it all together. I think that O’Connor could hopefully pot some playing full time on the 3rd line. Or we could drop one of Smith, Rust, or Rakell down, too. It’ll be interesting to see how the team shakes out this coming season.

I'd be really interested to see how well one of the young guys could do in a top 6 role. Like Puustinen, Nylander, or maybe Poulin? Then you could drop Smith or Rust (I'd keep Rakell in the top 6). You could even try someone like Johnsson or Pitlick up there.