This is why I'm feeling pretty optimistic about the future and it's why I don't feel there's a pressing need to move AA or Mantha at this time. I live for s*** that makes me laugh maniacally and nothing in hockey makes me laugh as maniacally as overwhelming forward depth does.
There's a saying that you'll see obsessive Oilers fans throw around online: "Get good players. Keep good players." That's how you build the foundation for a perennial powerhouse. Don't worry too much about perceived positional need until that need has directly led to your defeat in a best-of-seven series. Don't trade Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson. Don't place an arbitrary limit on how many 30-goal scorers you're going to allow yourself to carry.
We're getting an elite forward prospect next month. Let's say that player is Dylan Cozens. All of a sudden, with just that one addition, we've got a guy whose floor is a solid 2C and whose ceiling is a better-than-Larkin 1C. All of a sudden, with just that one addition, the idea that Bertuzzi-Larkin-Mantha will be our top line a couple of years from now seems almost quaint. All of a sudden, there's a bit less pressure on every single player in the system to overachieve and become a total stud.
There's strength in numbers. This, in theory, is strength in numbers:
Athanasiou
Bertuzzi
Cozens
Larkin
Mantha
Rasmussen
Veleno
Zadina
Now, granted, the salary cap system means that even if we could get this group together on the Wings roster, it probably wouldn't last for more than a season or two. But I say you cross that bridge when you come to it. Maybe something falls into your lap on your way to that point and you end up trading AA for a Brett Pesce. Cool. Do that. I'm just saying I think the default mindset should be "Patience, patience, patience. Hoard, hoard, hoard."