BigG44
Registered User
- Jul 12, 2007
- 24,127
- 1,579
I'm not really sure how you get to this conclusion now. Pre trades I would have agreed with you, but now that Roy and Jagr are gone without replacement the forward group has a huge hole at 2C. I'm not sold on Eakin to be that guy, and it is still too soon to expect Chiasson/Fraser/Smith to play a bona fide top 6 role at a solid NHL level. I think the current group has not fallen completely apart, partly because there is no more pressure to win, and that might fool some fans into forgetting that the Stars on paper have a bottom 3rd top 6.
I agree Eakin has to prove a bit more before I comfortable saying he's a long term solution as the 2nd center.
Regarding wingers though for next season. I'm not going to pick and choose names, but I think at least two of Alex Chiasson, Reilly Smith, Matt Fraser, and Brett Ritchie will easily fill Top 6 roles next to Eriksson and Whitney on the wing. Everyone isn't going to develop properly, but I think we've seen enough to be confident that at any given time two of those guys can handle Top 6 minutes.