4th Top-4 DMan this yr..

[hiramnicak]

I think the thing we've got to be ready for is...
What if Edvinsson only becomes a solid top 4 guy.
ASP becomes a good PP guy with some defensive issues.
Danielson maxes out at a Compher level.
Kasper becomes a trocheck.
Those are all good, useful players,
But the NHL is full of good, useful players.
Maybe we're like the LA Kings without past all-world guys like Kopitar and Doughty,
Maybe we;re the St. Louis Blues or NYI Islanders.

But you look around the league at the consistent contenders

A lot of them have guys who are putting together Hall of Fame careers.

I'm looking at Stanley Cup finalists.
Which winner or loser doesn't have a guy with a good shot of being a Hall of Famer?
Panthers - Barkov, Tkachuk, Bobrovksy
Oilers - MDavid Drai
Vegas - Eichel? Pietrangelo?
Avs - Mackinnon, Makar, Rantanen
Bolts - Stamkos, Kucherov, Hedman, Point
Montreal - Weber, Price
Stars - Heiskanen?
Blues - Pietrangelo,
Boston - Pastrnak, Marchand, Krecji, Bergeron, Chara
Capitals - Ovechkin, Backstrom, Carlson?
Penguins - Crosby, Malkin, Kessel
Nashville - Josi,Forsberg, Subban? I wonder how close Ekholm is getting.
Sharks - Thornton, Pavelski, Burns, Marleau
Chicago - Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith, (Seabrook, IMO, belongs)
LAKings - Kopitar, Quick, Doughty
Vancouver- Sedins
Devils - Kovalchuk (should be), Parise (?), Brodeur, Elias (should be)
Red WIngs - Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom
Ducks - Getzlaf, Perry, Niedermayer, Pronger, Selanne
Senators - Alfredsson, (heatley and spezza were trending that way)
Hurricanes - Staal, Brindamour, Recchi
Oilers - Pronger

Except the Knights and maybe Stars and maybe the Blues, they all had 1-2 or more Hall of Fame types. Even in the salary cap era.

you can't rebuild forever. at some point, you have to take the risk that your roster is chalk full of good but not great players. if that's all these guys are, i imagine plan b is to bank on your depth and competitiveness to draw stars hitting free agency (e.g. patrick kane) or demanding trades (e.g. alex debrincat). it's not ideal, but the draft isn't the only place talent is acquired.

[Fil Zaronek]

I think the thing we've got to be ready for is...
What if Edvinsson only becomes a solid top 4 guy.
ASP becomes a good PP guy with some defensive issues.
Danielson maxes out at a Compher level.
Kasper becomes a trocheck.
Those are all good, useful players,
But the NHL is full of good, useful players.
Maybe we're like the LA Kings without past all-world guys like Kopitar and Doughty,
Maybe we;re the St. Louis Blues or NYI Islanders.

But you look around the league at the consistent contenders

A lot of them have guys who are putting together Hall of Fame careers.

I'm looking at Stanley Cup finalists.
Which winner or loser doesn't have a guy with a good shot of being a Hall of Famer?
Panthers - Barkov, Tkachuk, Bobrovksy
Oilers - MDavid Drai
Vegas - Eichel? Pietrangelo?
Avs - Mackinnon, Makar, Rantanen
Bolts - Stamkos, Kucherov, Hedman, Point
Montreal - Weber, Price
Stars - Heiskanen?
Blues - Pietrangelo,
Boston - Pastrnak, Marchand, Krecji, Bergeron, Chara
Capitals - Ovechkin, Backstrom, Carlson?
Penguins - Crosby, Malkin, Kessel
Nashville - Josi,Forsberg, Subban? I wonder how close Ekholm is getting.
Sharks - Thornton, Pavelski, Burns, Marleau
Chicago - Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith, (Seabrook, IMO, belongs)
LAKings - Kopitar, Quick, Doughty
Vancouver- Sedins
Devils - Kovalchuk (should be), Parise (?), Brodeur, Elias (should be)
Red WIngs - Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom
Ducks - Getzlaf, Perry, Niedermayer, Pronger, Selanne
Senators - Alfredsson, (heatley and spezza were trending that way)
Hurricanes - Staal, Brindamour, Recchi
Oilers - Pronger

Except the Knights and maybe Stars and maybe the Blues, they all had 1-2 or more Hall of Fame types. Even in the salary cap era.

I would be thrilled if Kasper becomes a Trochek. Trochek is like a rich man's Compher (on the ice but not much difference in cap hits) and about as good as Larkin is

[Pop Zeus]

I think the thing we've got to be ready for is...
What if Edvinsson only becomes a solid top 4 guy.
ASP becomes a good PP guy with some defensive issues.
Danielson maxes out at a Compher level.
Kasper becomes a trocheck.
Those are all good, useful players,
But the NHL is full of good, useful players.
Maybe we're like the LA Kings without past all-world guys like Kopitar and Doughty,
Maybe we;re the St. Louis Blues or NYI Islanders.

But you look around the league at the consistent contenders

A lot of them have guys who are putting together Hall of Fame careers.

I'm looking at Stanley Cup finalists.
Which winner or loser doesn't have a guy with a good shot of being a Hall of Famer?
Panthers - Barkov, Tkachuk, Bobrovksy
Oilers - MDavid Drai
Vegas - Eichel? Pietrangelo?
Avs - Mackinnon, Makar, Rantanen
Bolts - Stamkos, Kucherov, Hedman, Point
Montreal - Weber, Price
Stars - Heiskanen?
Blues - Pietrangelo,
Boston - Pastrnak, Marchand, Krecji, Bergeron, Chara
Capitals - Ovechkin, Backstrom, Carlson?
Penguins - Crosby, Malkin, Kessel
Nashville - Josi,Forsberg, Subban? I wonder how close Ekholm is getting.
Sharks - Thornton, Pavelski, Burns, Marleau
Chicago - Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith, (Seabrook, IMO, belongs)
LAKings - Kopitar, Quick, Doughty
Vancouver- Sedins
Devils - Kovalchuk (should be), Parise (?), Brodeur, Elias (should be)
Red WIngs - Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom
Ducks - Getzlaf, Perry, Niedermayer, Pronger, Selanne
Senators - Alfredsson, (heatley and spezza were trending that way)
Hurricanes - Staal, Brindamour, Recchi
Oilers - Pronger

Except the Knights and maybe Stars and maybe the Blues, they all had 1-2 or more Hall of Fame types. Even in the salary cap era.

you can't rebuild forever. at some point, you have to take the risk that your roster is chalk full of good but not great players. if that's all these guys are, i imagine plan b is to bank on your depth and competitiveness to draw stars hitting free agency (e.g. patrick kane) or demanding trades (e.g. alex debrincat). it's not ideal, but the draft isn't the only place talent is acquired.

That's never what I suggested.
I suggested sucking more, for a shorter period of time.
What you seem to be advocating and what Yzerman is going towards is being mediocre for 10 more years.

[holytoledo]

I think the thing we've got to be ready for is...
What if Edvinsson only becomes a solid top 4 guy.
ASP becomes a good PP guy with some defensive issues.
Danielson maxes out at a Compher level.
Kasper becomes a trocheck.
Those are all good, useful players,
But the NHL is full of good, useful players.
Maybe we're like the LA Kings without past all-world guys like Kopitar and Doughty,
Maybe we;re the St. Louis Blues or NYI Islanders.

But you look around the league at the consistent contenders

A lot of them have guys who are putting together Hall of Fame careers.

I'm looking at Stanley Cup finalists.
Which winner or loser doesn't have a guy with a good shot of being a Hall of Famer?
Panthers - Barkov, Tkachuk, Bobrovksy
Oilers - MDavid Drai
Vegas - Eichel? Pietrangelo?
Avs - Mackinnon, Makar, Rantanen
Bolts - Stamkos, Kucherov, Hedman, Point
Montreal - Weber, Price
Stars - Heiskanen?
Blues - Pietrangelo,
Boston - Pastrnak, Marchand, Krecji, Bergeron, Chara
Capitals - Ovechkin, Backstrom, Carlson?
Penguins - Crosby, Malkin, Kessel
Nashville - Josi,Forsberg, Subban? I wonder how close Ekholm is getting.
Sharks - Thornton, Pavelski, Burns, Marleau
Chicago - Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith, (Seabrook, IMO, belongs)
LAKings - Kopitar, Quick, Doughty
Vancouver- Sedins
Devils - Kovalchuk (should be), Parise (?), Brodeur, Elias (should be)
Red WIngs - Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom
Ducks - Getzlaf, Perry, Niedermayer, Pronger, Selanne
Senators - Alfredsson, (heatley and spezza were trending that way)
Hurricanes - Staal, Brindamour, Recchi
Oilers - Pronger

Except the Knights and maybe Stars and maybe the Blues, they all had 1-2 or more Hall of Fame types. Even in the salary cap era.

you can't rebuild forever. at some point, you have to take the risk that your roster is chalk full of good but not great players. if that's all these guys are, i imagine plan b is to bank on your depth and competitiveness to draw stars hitting free agency (e.g. patrick kane) or demanding trades (e.g. alex debrincat). it's not ideal, but the draft isn't the only place talent is acquired.

That's never what I suggested.
I suggested sucking more, for a shorter period of time.
What you seem to be advocating and what Yzerman is going towards is being mediocre for 10 more years.

Yeah, the last 2 years have been a waste and really just a mixed bag. To me, Larkin & Hronek should have been basically a package deal. If you keep one, you keep both, or if you move one, you move for immediate help. Larkin is probably my favorite current player right now. Personally, I think for the return we would have gotten, I would have moved him to take bigger steps toward building a true contender. WTF is the point of in the same off season selling off one of the best 2nd pair RDs in the league, to then turn around and bring in hot garbage like Jeff Petry and Justin Holl if you're not tanking? If you're tanking. Fucking tank. If you're not tanking, don't give away a core player in the right age bracket for when you can contend without a fucking plan or any realistic options to replace him in your contention window. When we did that, we were basically saying we weren't going to really contend for quite a while. Why the fuck then turn around and sign JT Compher for too much term and $ to play above where he belongs in the lineup and double down on the mistake you made with Copp?

[RedWhite&Yzerman]

I think the thing we've got to be ready for is...
What if Edvinsson only becomes a solid top 4 guy.
ASP becomes a good PP guy with some defensive issues.
Danielson maxes out at a Compher level.
Kasper becomes a trocheck.
Those are all good, useful players,
But the NHL is full of good, useful players.
Maybe we're like the LA Kings without past all-world guys like Kopitar and Doughty,
Maybe we;re the St. Louis Blues or NYI Islanders.

But you look around the league at the consistent contenders

A lot of them have guys who are putting together Hall of Fame careers.

I'm looking at Stanley Cup finalists.
Which winner or loser doesn't have a guy with a good shot of being a Hall of Famer?
Panthers - Barkov, Tkachuk, Bobrovksy
Oilers - MDavid Drai
Vegas - Eichel? Pietrangelo?
Avs - Mackinnon, Makar, Rantanen
Bolts - Stamkos, Kucherov, Hedman, Point
Montreal - Weber, Price
Stars - Heiskanen?
Blues - Pietrangelo,
Boston - Pastrnak, Marchand, Krecji, Bergeron, Chara
Capitals - Ovechkin, Backstrom, Carlson?
Penguins - Crosby, Malkin, Kessel
Nashville - Josi,Forsberg, Subban? I wonder how close Ekholm is getting.
Sharks - Thornton, Pavelski, Burns, Marleau
Chicago - Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith, (Seabrook, IMO, belongs)
LAKings - Kopitar, Quick, Doughty
Vancouver- Sedins
Devils - Kovalchuk (should be), Parise (?), Brodeur, Elias (should be)
Red WIngs - Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom
Ducks - Getzlaf, Perry, Niedermayer, Pronger, Selanne
Senators - Alfredsson, (heatley and spezza were trending that way)
Hurricanes - Staal, Brindamour, Recchi
Oilers - Pronger

Except the Knights and maybe Stars and maybe the Blues, they all had 1-2 or more Hall of Fame types. Even in the salary cap era.

Larkin is already 14th (12th among forwards) In all-time Red Wings points after 9 seasons. If he maintains his career average over the next 7 of his 8.7M/yr contract...he'd have 898pts...just 20 behind Datsyuk (a first ballot hall of famer, our 7th all-time leader in pts -6th among forwards- )...and he could still play a few seasons after finishing that contract. He might not be an "elite" player. But being a very good two-way player for a very long time generally gets you into the HoF, especially if you've got a ring or two.

Raymond has 34 more pts in his first 3 seasons than Larkin did...if he has a long, healthy career...

If Seider has a long, healthy career...it'd certainly be HoF worthy (he only has 16pts less than Nick Lidstrom -- maybe the greatest all-around defenseman to ever play the game --- had in his first 3 NHL seasons).

That'd be 3 right there. If one of our goalie prospects turns out and gets some rings...if Edvinsson or ASP really hit...if one of Danielson/MBN/Kasper/Mazur hits...if we acquire a great talent (we have Kane right now lol)...

If the measurement you want to use to make judgements of a team is hall of famers on it.... we're on pace

[RedWhite&Yzerman]

The core of this team...to me...is this:

DeBrincat --- Larkin --- Raymond
??? --- Danielson --- ???
Mazur --- Kasper --- MBN

??? --- Seider
Edvinsson --- ASP

Cossa/Augustine

*****

In 3yrs ('26-27)...
-Ras will be in the 2nd to last yr of his deal (should be easy to move, if you want.. should actually return decent asset/s)
-Copp will be in the last yr of his deal (shouldn't be harder to move than Fabbri, if you want).
-Compher will be in the 2nd to last yr of his deal (maybe you'd want to get rid of him just bc he's too pricey for a 4th liner; he'd be the hardest of the 3 to move...and I'm not sure we'd even want to move him...and I don't think it'd be terribly difficult to, if we did want to).

...Dumb to think about depth roles (3rd pair/4th line) 3yrs out, or even 1yr out...But prospects I think could potentially fill those depth roles eventually...Johansson (85% confidence), Wallinder (80%)...One of Becher/Kiiskinen/Finnie (50%)...Two of them (40%)...Buchelnikov (as a 4th line PP specialist...40%)

*****

-100% confident Seider can anchor the 1st pair.
-95% confident Edvinsson can anchor the 2nd.
-90% confident ASP will be a solid all-around 2nd pair D (and not just a PP specialist).
~~~Just need to find one top-4 LHD somewhere.

-85% confident Cossa or Augustine will be a solid NHL starter (75% confident they will be a solid NHL tandem)
~~~No worries there at the moment.

-95% confident Kasper, MBN and Mazur will all be --at least-- solid 3rd line NHL'ers.
-DeBrincat-Larkin-Raymond is already a solid 2nd NHL line.
-90% confident Danielson can be a great two-way, pass-first 2nd line center in between two good wingers.
~~~Just need to find two top-6 wingers.

NEEDS:
Top-4 LHD
Top-6 Wing
Top-6 Wing

Tons of cap space to sign a top-4 D and a top-6 forward.

Maybe we can draft another top-6 forward who'd be ready after a post-draft season (like Raymond) or two.

Not a ton to really stress about, guys. The base is already in place.

[Pop Zeus]

I think the thing we've got to be ready for is...
What if Edvinsson only becomes a solid top 4 guy.
ASP becomes a good PP guy with some defensive issues.
Danielson maxes out at a Compher level.
Kasper becomes a trocheck.
Those are all good, useful players,
But the NHL is full of good, useful players.
Maybe we're like the LA Kings without past all-world guys like Kopitar and Doughty,
Maybe we;re the St. Louis Blues or NYI Islanders.

But you look around the league at the consistent contenders

A lot of them have guys who are putting together Hall of Fame careers.

I'm looking at Stanley Cup finalists.
Which winner or loser doesn't have a guy with a good shot of being a Hall of Famer?
Panthers - Barkov, Tkachuk, Bobrovksy
Oilers - MDavid Drai
Vegas - Eichel? Pietrangelo?
Avs - Mackinnon, Makar, Rantanen
Bolts - Stamkos, Kucherov, Hedman, Point
Montreal - Weber, Price
Stars - Heiskanen?
Blues - Pietrangelo,
Boston - Pastrnak, Marchand, Krecji, Bergeron, Chara
Capitals - Ovechkin, Backstrom, Carlson?
Penguins - Crosby, Malkin, Kessel
Nashville - Josi,Forsberg, Subban? I wonder how close Ekholm is getting.
Sharks - Thornton, Pavelski, Burns, Marleau
Chicago - Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith, (Seabrook, IMO, belongs)
LAKings - Kopitar, Quick, Doughty
Vancouver- Sedins
Devils - Kovalchuk (should be), Parise (?), Brodeur, Elias (should be)
Red WIngs - Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom
Ducks - Getzlaf, Perry, Niedermayer, Pronger, Selanne
Senators - Alfredsson, (heatley and spezza were trending that way)
Hurricanes - Staal, Brindamour, Recchi
Oilers - Pronger

Except the Knights and maybe Stars and maybe the Blues, they all had 1-2 or more Hall of Fame types. Even in the salary cap era.

Larkin is already 14th (12th among forwards) In all-time Red Wings points after 9 seasons. If he maintains his career average over the next 7 of his 8.7M/yr contract...he'd have 898pts...just 20 behind Datsyuk (a first ballot hall of famer, our 7th all-time leader in pts -6th among forwards- )...and he could still play a few seasons after finishing that contract. He might not be an "elite" player. But being a very good two-way player for a very long time generally gets you into the HoF, especially if you've got a ring or two.

Raymond has 34 more pts in his first 3 seasons than Larkin did...if he has a long, healthy career...

If Seider has a long, healthy career...it'd certainly be HoF worthy (he only has 16pts less than Nick Lidstrom -- maybe the greatest all-around defenseman to ever play the game --- had in his first 3 NHL seasons).

That'd be 3 right there. If one of our goalie prospects turns out and gets some rings...if Edvinsson or ASP really hit...if one of Danielson/MBN/Kasper/Mazur hits...if we acquire a great talent (we have Kane right now lol)...

If the measurement you want to use to make judgements of a team is hall of famers on it.... we're on pace

Larkin won't maintain his pace. He's 28. The legs are going to slow down. His neck injuries are also another thing to keep an eye on.
Larkin won't be a Hall of Famer. A point per game at your peak isn't generally HOF material. Never finished in the top 15 in Hart voting. Never received a mention in all star voting.

Raymond just put up 72 points - a nice big development.
Still 10 points short of a point per game. Comparing him to Datsyuk seems pretty insane to me.
That Datsyuk was a first ballot HOFer with his stats shows you just how much bigger his game was than stats - and it was bigger in ways that NOBODY on the Wings has demonstrated.
Wingers like Ilya Kovalchuk and Kovalev never made the hall. Raymond is about 3 levels short of any thing they ever did.

Seider has been a very good defenseman. Not great. He's a long ways away from looking like a Hall of Famer.
Time for him to start showing up in AS or Norris voting.

So that's not 3. Not even close.

If any of our prospects were trending in a direction that hinted at the HOF, I wouldn't have made the post. But the truth is Yzerman and Draper don't often draft sky's-the-limit types and seem to focus on compete level - which is great. But gamebreakers rule the league.

[Pop Zeus]

The core of this team...to me...is this:

DeBrincat --- Larkin --- Raymond
??? --- Danielson --- ???
Mazur --- Kasper --- MBN

??? --- Seider
Edvinsson --- ASP

Cossa/Augustine

*****

In 3yrs ('26-27)...
-Ras will be in the 2nd to last yr of his deal (should be easy to move, if you want.. should actually return decent asset/s)
-Copp will be in the last yr of his deal (shouldn't be harder to move than Fabbri, if you want).
-Compher will be in the 2nd to last yr of his deal (maybe you'd want to get rid of him just bc he's too pricey for a 4th liner; he'd be the hardest of the 3 to move...and I'm not sure we'd even want to move him...and I don't think it'd be terribly difficult to, if we did want to).

...

*****

-100% confident Seider can anchor the 1st pair.
-95% confident Edvinsson can anchor the 2nd.
-90% confident ASP will be a solid all-around 2nd pair D (and not just a PP specialist).
~~~Just need to find one top-4 LHD somewhere.

-85% confident Cossa or Augustine will be a solid NHL starter (75% confident they will be a solid NHL tandem)
~~~No worries there at the moment.

-95% confident Kasper, MBN and Mazur will all be --at least-- solid 3rd line NHL'ers.
-DeBrincat-Larkin-Raymond is already a solid 2nd NHL line.
-90% confident Danielson can be a great two-way, pass-first 2nd line center in between two good wingers.
~~~Just need to find two top-6 wingers.

NEEDS:
Top-4 LHD
Top-6 Wing
Top-6 Wing

Tons of cap space to sign a top-4 D and a top-6 forward.

Maybe we can draft another top-6 forward who'd be ready after a post-draft season (like Raymond) or two.

Not a ton to really stress about, guys. The base is already in place.

If that's our top line, were going to be stuck in the 12-20 range. You need these guys.
If Larkin is the ceiling, forget about it.

I think your lineup, outside of Mazur, is probably accurate. Maybe flip Danielson and Kasper.
I just don't know how much better these guys will be than the Comphers, Copps and Chiarots of the world.

About 25 of the 32 teams can ice 3 quality lines, 2 solid defensive pairings and a decent goalie.
The teams that win are the teams with Barkovs and McDavids.

[RedWhite&Yzerman]

The core of this team...to me...is this:

DeBrincat --- Larkin --- Raymond
??? --- Danielson --- ???
Mazur --- Kasper --- MBN

??? --- Seider
Edvinsson --- ASP

Cossa/Augustine

*****

In 3yrs ('26-27)...
-Ras will be in the 2nd to last yr of his deal (should be easy to move, if you want.. should actually return decent asset/s)
-Copp will be in the last yr of his deal (shouldn't be harder to move than Fabbri, if you want).
-Compher will be in the 2nd to last yr of his deal (maybe you'd want to get rid of him just bc he's too pricey for a 4th liner; he'd be the hardest of the 3 to move...and I'm not sure we'd even want to move him...and I don't think it'd be terribly difficult to, if we did want to).

...

*****

-100% confident Seider can anchor the 1st pair.
-95% confident Edvinsson can anchor the 2nd.
-90% confident ASP will be a solid all-around 2nd pair D (and not just a PP specialist).
~~~Just need to find one top-4 LHD somewhere.

-85% confident Cossa or Augustine will be a solid NHL starter (75% confident they will be a solid NHL tandem)
~~~No worries there at the moment.

-95% confident Kasper, MBN and Mazur will all be --at least-- solid 3rd line NHL'ers.
-DeBrincat-Larkin-Raymond is already a solid 2nd NHL line.
-90% confident Danielson can be a great two-way, pass-first 2nd line center in between two good wingers.
~~~Just need to find two top-6 wingers.

NEEDS:
Top-4 LHD
Top-6 Wing
Top-6 Wing

Tons of cap space to sign a top-4 D and a top-6 forward.

Maybe we can draft another top-6 forward who'd be ready after a post-draft season (like Raymond) or two.

Not a ton to really stress about, guys. The base is already in place.

If that's our top line, were going to be stuck in the 12-20 range. You need these guys.
If Larkin is the ceiling, forget about it.

I think your lineup, outside of Mazur, is probably accurate. Maybe flip Danielson and Kasper.
I just don't know how much better these guys will be than the Comphers, Copps and Chiarots of the world.

About 25 of the 32 teams can ice 3 quality lines, 2 solid defensive pairings and a decent goalie.
The teams that win are the teams with Barkovs and McDavids.

Just 3 holes to fill in the next 2 off-seasons... very do-able.

[RedWhite&Yzerman]

The core of this team...to me...is this:

DeBrincat --- Larkin --- Raymond
??? --- Danielson --- ???
Mazur --- Kasper --- MBN

??? --- Seider
Edvinsson --- ASP

Cossa/Augustine

*****

In 3yrs ('26-27)...
-Ras will be in the 2nd to last yr of his deal (should be easy to move, if you want.. should actually return decent asset/s)
-Copp will be in the last yr of his deal (shouldn't be harder to move than Fabbri, if you want).
-Compher will be in the 2nd to last yr of his deal (maybe you'd want to get rid of him just bc he's too pricey for a 4th liner; he'd be the hardest of the 3 to move...and I'm not sure we'd even want to move him...and I don't think it'd be terribly difficult to, if we did want to).

...

*****

-100% confident Seider can anchor the 1st pair.
-95% confident Edvinsson can anchor the 2nd.
-90% confident ASP will be a solid all-around 2nd pair D (and not just a PP specialist).
~~~Just need to find one top-4 LHD somewhere.

-85% confident Cossa or Augustine will be a solid NHL starter (75% confident they will be a solid NHL tandem)
~~~No worries there at the moment.

-95% confident Kasper, MBN and Mazur will all be --at least-- solid 3rd line NHL'ers.
-DeBrincat-Larkin-Raymond is already a solid 2nd NHL line.
-90% confident Danielson can be a great two-way, pass-first 2nd line center in between two good wingers.
~~~Just need to find two top-6 wingers.

NEEDS:
Top-4 LHD
Top-6 Wing
Top-6 Wing

Tons of cap space to sign a top-4 D and a top-6 forward.

Maybe we can draft another top-6 forward who'd be ready after a post-draft season (like Raymond) or two.

Not a ton to really stress about, guys. The base is already in place.

If that's our top line, were going to be stuck in the 12-20 range. You need these guys.
If Larkin is the ceiling, forget about it.

I think your lineup, outside of Mazur, is probably accurate. Maybe flip Danielson and Kasper.
I just don't know how much better these guys will be than the Comphers, Copps and Chiarots of the world.

About 25 of the 32 teams can ice 3 quality lines, 2 solid defensive pairings and a decent goalie.
The teams that win are the teams with Barkovs and McDavids.

Raymond actually has more pts in his first 3 seasons than Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Shannahan.....but hey.....I'm just giving you objective facts. It takes real talent to subjectively paint them pessimistically.