Quoting: cbjthrowaway
long-term, i don't think there's significant drop-off from jiricek to levshunov. and levshunov's skating + build are close to NHL ready.
I agree wholeheartedly, and Jiricek's skating is still a concern, but the fact of the matter is we'd be setting the timeline back at least a year from Jiricek to Levshunov, just considering one is in the NHL right now and the other just finished up his freshman year in college.
Quoting: cbjthrowaway
short-term… boqvist could be used as a PP specialist (aligning role to skillset), or he could play with werenski (where he did well when healthy) which would push severson to the second pair (good match with mateychuk imo) and gudbranson to the third. blankenburg as a 7D would be a luxury. could also keep provorov until mateychuk establishes himself, or find a different veteran LHD than mikkola.
Boqvist as the QB on PP2 makes a ton of sense, and he's great with Werenski, and I do like the Mateychuk - Severson pairing in theory. Any veteran LD with Gudbranson (or really any NHL-caliber D) works on the 3rd pair, but I still think long-term we'd be looking for an upgrade at lots of those positions.
Werenski: great, 1LD for life
Severson: well...he's here for 7 more years. Might as well write his name in pen for the 2nd pair.
Mateychuk: pencil him in at 2nd-pair as soon as Provorov is gone
Provorov: as good as gone
Gudbranson: good 3RD, but not great, and already 32.
Boqvist: versatile, but undersized, not overly physical, and not an elite puck-mover. Unless he develops into something special, he's just kind of useful at most things. Not a top-pair guy, not a 3rd-pair guy.
Bean, Svozil, Blankenburg, UFA Vet: all technically options, but not ones you lock up long-term or make a franchise staple.
Quoting: cbjthrowaway
forward group is probably one veteran winger short of being actually good – could be a reclamation candidate (olofsson, leblanc) or someone more establshed (zucker). would probably be best to rotate them in with brindley/danforth/texier. could also juggle the lines a bit to leverage some past chemistry (i.e. gaudreau with fantilli, laine with jenner, marchenko with sillinger).
A veteran winger and a loooot of development from being actually good. I think we could benefit from bringing in another vet, but the kids still do need to develop into their roles. Fantilli is the obvious 1C of the future, but he's still a rookie this year. I don't think he's going to take a Hughes-like jump for another year+. Sillinger has taken huge strides, but he's still got a ways to go to be anything more than a good 3C. Marchenko, Chinakhov, Voronkov, Texier, and even Laine still need to find consistency.
I was optimistic for this season, but looking at next year, my expectations are ~18-20th in the league and finishing out of a wildcard spot, if things continue to develop.