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by Oates2Hullie450
Well the thing is that those minor tweaks now involve the core guys as opposed to tweaking the supporting cast. This team has been built around Backes, Steen, Oshie, Berglund at forward for six years pretty much. We do need a new system. I like Hitchcock the man, but we are about to be too young and skilled for his system to work. When we were forced to rely on Oshie and Backes type guys to lead the way, we had to play defense first like Hitch's system is set up. We simply didn't have the skill. But with our prospects coming up and young guys already on the roster, plus potentially adding a player if a current core member is moved, and we won't have tor ely on the 'Boy band' for our primary scoring.
Think about the team in two years from now- shift that core to guys like Tarsasenko- our 23 year old phenomenon who's about to be among the elite of the elite, Schwartz- a future consistent 30 goal guy, Fabbri- A highly skilled forward who has at times thrived in playoff situations and can be a top six player, Barbashev who also has top six potential, Petro- A young man who can be a cornerstone defenseman and who is still very young and had the best playoffs of his young career this year, Stastny- a playmaking center who will be better outside of Hitchcock's system and not being put into spots and with players that simply do not fit him,and Allen/Binnington who both have looked very promising at times. The rebuild is indeed more of a regroup, and it's happening from within already. Now think about if we can add players by moving say Oshie and Berglund and maybe a prospect like Rattie. Then toss in some of the other promising guys we have at D and at forward, and there you go.
What this really accomplishes is being able to make the remaining pieces of our core (Steen, Backes) support pieces in favor of guys who are really meant to be star players. Alexander Steen and David Backes are phenomenal 2nd and 3rd line players; that's Stanley Cup caliber depth. There are NOT 1st line forwards. I've thought for years that if we could find a way to turn our so called Boy Band's lead singers into back-up singers so to speak, we would be golden. We now seem to have the pieces to make that happen.
So rebuild? No. Regroup? Yes. But as far as players go, we won't have to make as many changes as you may think.