Of course we wont be able to have the depth on the forward lines that we had last year... but Im not worried. So far we havent lost anything that cripples us.
Yesterday's move provided some breathing room for the cap.
Huet will be gone, thats more breathing room.
Niemi and Hjalmarsson will be back. The defense will look very similar, with Hendry and either Boynton or a similar type of player on the 3rd pairing.
Forwards: Toews, Kane, Brouwer, Sharp, Hossa, Kopy, Bolland, Bickell, Dowell are locks to be on the roster at this point IMO. That leaves 3 more.
Ladd and Versteeg are still question marks to return next year. Im fairly certain that only 1 of the 2 will be here, although it would be nice to keep both. The best option that I see is to trade Versteeg for a decent 3rd line C (and something like a 2/3 rd pick and/or a prospect) and then pay Ladd, which would leave us with...
Brouwer / Toews / Kane
Sharp / Bolland / Hossa
Ladd / (Center from trade) / Kopy
(Winger)/Dowell/Bickell
With that 4th line winger job a competition between Beach(who, if he is nhl-ready, would most likely earn a spot higher than the 4th line eventually due to his scoring skills) and other borderline guys. Thats 2 great scoring lines, an above average checking line and an energetic 4th line.
Assuming we dont add a C via trade...
Brouwer / Toews / Kane
Kopy / Sharp / Hossa
(winger)/Bolland/(Ladd or Steeg)
(winger)/Dowell/Bickell
Its also possible that Dowell may be able to handle the 3rd line C job, which again would put Bolland on the 2nd line giving us 2 excellent scoring lines.
So settle down. We have a lot of options and I trust the front office to iron it out.
