Look at what you just wrote Al, that is very pie in the sky man. I am not saying it won't happen, but come on there is clearly no lock here.
I don't like Stralman either, and thank god we didn't give him 4.5 per for 5 seasons, but I cannot sit here and say 38 year old Boyle is a "great improvement" over Stralman. Better on O and worse on D is how I see it. Boyle's production has dropped every season the past 3 or 4 seasons. The last 2 season he has been a 12 goal 36 point guy. Solid, but not wow what a huge improvement over Stralman when you factor in O and D. I stand by my pretty much neutral swap when comparing those two. Maybe slight edge one way, but no huge upgrade IMO.
Richards scored 20 goals this past season. That gets forgotten but it happened. Now I 100% agree that Stepan and Kreider improve and can cover for some of what Richards did, but we need to add someone else upfront to give us more balance and depth. The depth is what carried us this season, let's not forget that Al.
Then you say MSL will equal what Cally and Pouliot did here combined. Again I expect a good season from MSL, but those are two solid guys, neither of whom I would come close to signing based on the deals they got, but solid players none the less. We lost depth here as well. Again we need another forward to help out and give us some depth back.
I agree with you on Hags and Zucc. We talk about players going forward like Step and CK, but maybe Zucc comes back a little? He going to score 60 points again? Maybe, but maybe not.
Now where we agree 100% is on Staal, I also think he gets traded for the O we need. We have too many dmen, I just don't see how a deal isn't coming there. And I also agree that McDonagh will take another step and become a clear top 6 or 7 dman scoring 15 goals and 50 points. I expect big things.
So we agree alomst across the board Al, but to me it is pie in the sky to say Stepan and CK getting better replaces Richards. And MSL for a full season replaces Pouliot and Cally.
Aside from expecting a lot from those guys, which could happen we agree, you also lose a lot of depth...depth that was our calling card this past season. Our 3rd line needs a bump, no doubt in my mind, and I expect we add some O soon just like you do.