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Again, 100% agree. I know you're not saying that Larkin isn't a 1C, but I think he absolutely is. I don't see Larkin giving up that 1C role any time soon. We may need an upgrade at 2C, depending on how Veleno / Rasmussen pan out, but I also think we're solid there as well, with one of those two. If we end up falling back in the draft (most probable), and take Stutzel, I think we'll see Larkin - Stutzel - Veleno as our center depth going forward, and while none are McDavid or Matthews calibre, I think one (Larkin) or two (Stutzel) of them could be Toews / O'Rielly calibre. The former have a combined 0 Cups (albeit a lot younger). The latter have a combined 4 Cups as 1C's... Give Larkin a Kane or Tarasenko calibre winger, and he'll once again be considered a legit 1C... This. Apparently...

Oh. So you need veterans to win Cups. I thought we were supposed to trade everyone away for draft picks.

Here's the problem. Buffalo's return for ROR was Patrik Berglund (32) and Vlad Sobotka (31); both of whom are aging middle 6 to bottom 6 forwards, a former 2016 1st round pick (Tage Thompson) who still hasn't cracked the NHL, a 2019 1st round pick (31st overall which is basically a 2nd rounder) in Ryan Johnson, who will doubtfully ever be as good as ROR, and a 2021 2nd round pick (see previous). Who do you honestly think won that trade? Hint: It wasn't the rebuilding team who traded away their younger, less than elite, but very good center. Do you think Buffalo might be regretting that trade? I do. And I don't want to be another Buffalo. Apparently there are only 2 choices on Zadina. Either you think he's an absolute bust or the next Pavel Bure. Mackel is the former. Apparently you are the latter.

This gives me a better sense of where you're coming from. Legit thanks for elaborating. (I haven't been lurking much lately, so I'm not sure where people are at right now re: the rebuild.) You're in the "Nuke the site from orbit" camp. Your fear is that we fall into a late-stage Hollandism cycle of Respectable Mediocrity™. I can, erm, respect that. I'm not feeling it tho. Yzerman's not attached to our players the way Holland was, so I don't think we have to worry about him riding a mediocre core for way too long "because homegrown guys" or whatever. Again, Yzerman's been pretty clear and consistent with his prognosis: Our young core is flat-out not going to be enough, so we need to add. I truly don't see why this has to be a 10-year thing. I'm all for Yzerman trying outside-the-box stuff in an effort to speed up the timeline, but I don't think it's a "Burn it to the ground or we're stuck in hell for 10 years" situation. What we have right now isn't anything to write home about, admittedly. Maybe Larkin is better suited for the 2C role. Maybe Veleno is looking like a 3C. But even if these things are true, we know that at least one of Byfield, Stutzle, Rossi, Drysdale, Raymond is going to be available when we make our first pick in the upcoming draft (assuming we don't get 1st). These are "elite, elite" prospects. Better than your average consolation prize pool, as this draft class has lived up to the "unusually deep" HYPE! Adding Lafreniere or any one of these players will be an enormous win for the rebuild effort. I know I say something to that effect every year, but, I mean, have y'all seen Marco Rossi play hockey?! Dude SCREAMS "Yzerman guy." Dude SCREAMS "Brayden Point (but better)." And some people are thinking he might not even go in the top five. Point being, again: We are getting an insanely good prospect, very likely the best we've had in eons. Adding Byfield is a quantum leap forward for the rebuild (even if he settles in as a winger). Adding Stutzle is a quantum leap forward for the rebuild (even if he settles in as a winger). Adding Rossi is a quantum leap forward for the rebuild (even if he settles in as a winger). Etc. All of a sudden, with one player added, entire discussions become outdated. If we're adding, say, Stutzle, and we think he's a centerman, the "Can Larkin and Veleno cut it as our go-to centermen?" conversation is basically no longer a thing. If we're getting Stutzle and he's a winger, we're about as set as you can be on the wings without adding any big names via trade or free agency. All of this is also true for Byfield and Rossi. We're probably headed for another prime lotto pick next year. And Yzerman's going to have cap flexibility -- with a pretty interesting 2021 UFA class. And we know Yzerman isn't afraid to make trades. So...I don't wanna be That Guy, but...it's not a total blue-sky pipe dream to think things could get better in a hurry if a few things go right.

Not only to I not want to keep tanking, I want to speed things up. That's why I've I want Stutzle or Rossi this year. They're both going to be top line centers, and they're both going to fast track to the NHL. I liked that Seider could jump straight to the AHL last year. I want more of that.

I agree with everything you're saying, but I don't agree with the prognosis. We're drafting a legit #1 center this year. That's the outlook for Stutzle, Byfield, Rossi. We're getting one of them for sure. We're a lottery team next year (or close to it) and we take an offensive LD. We're a lottery team the following year and take a power winger with hands (a Brady Tkachuk type). In a few years you've got something like this at the top of your team: Power Winger-Stutzle/Byfield/Rossi-Mantha Bert-Larkin-Zadina Veleno/Ras-Veleno/Ras-Fabbri/Berggren/Mastrosimone New LD - Seider McIsaac-Hronek I think this looks pretty good. Obviously a lot of this will depend on how these guys develop, but given what we need and given where we're drafting I'm expecting to fill our major holes in the next two drafts.