I don't think we need to change the defensive pairs (at least, not yet). I think so far I'd take Nieto over Harkins, but otherwise I like the forward changes. We need some form of offense from the bottom 6, and we've gotten nothing so far.

My bad. I didn't even look at the d-pairings actually. That was the default, so I'm gonna update that.

The bottom six will need some scoring, but I do believe the main focus was to strengthen the bottom-six defensively and make them much harder to play against, which has been successful thus far. Our bottom-six last year was a dumpster fire defensively and was constantly getting hemmed in.

I think this bottom six would still be good defensively and add a little more scoring touch.

Absolutely, the identity of the bottom 6 is to be defensively minded and tough to play against. I don't really expect that to change at all. But they have potential offensively that I haven't seen get tranbslated yet. Through 3 games, Eller is the only one with a point.
I get that that isn't their modus operandi, but if they don't start to produce, I'd be a little worried. We'd be relying too much on our top 6 to producea lot and produce consistantly. If they go on some cold streaks - which will happen with a group that age - then there will be games in those stretches that are plain unwinnable. How many games like that can we afford?
I don't dislike the group we have, for the most part. But we're going to need to get as much as we can out of that bottom 6, both offensively and defensively. Small sample size aside, we're not getting that yet.

I think Zohorna can bring that offensive touch without sacrificing defense.

I hope so. I think he earned a spot with his preseason performance. But how long before we need to do more than throw the near-replacement guys we've scavenged at a wall and hope something sticks?