While it's up in the air as to whether or not Sather's finished "tinkering" with the lineup this offseason (I'm guessing not.), he certainly shouldn't be. In his interview with Andrew Gross, Tortorella noted that we're still green on defense and are in need of more depth at center. Given Sather's assurances of a youth movement in New York, I doubt we'll see another defensive acquisition, but trading for a first line center should be a top priority.

As the roster stands, we're loaded up on left wings, and I think we're likely to see a Frolov-Prospal-Gaborik super-line. This looks impressive but leaves our second and third lines as bad off as they were last year. Don't expect secondary scoring to improve if this is the case. The solution to this problem is acquiring a high-caliber center *cough* Brad Richards *cough* in a trade.

Frolov and Gaborik's chemistry should be tested, but Prospal and Gaborik's chemistry has already been established. With Richards on our first line, Prospal could go back to playing left wing and Frolov could serve as the staple player on our second line. The domino effect continues with Dubinsky shifting to third line left wing and Avery to fourth. Secondary scoring suddenly seems like it will be less of an issue. Why settle for improving first line scoring marginally?

What's the cost of acquiring a player of Richards' skill? The cost is ensuring that youth is infused into our roster. I think packaging together Callahan, Roszival and a prospect like Dupont, who's not likely to make the roster anytime soon, would make for an acceptable trade. Weise and McDonagh are there to fill the voids that would be left. The result is a win-win scenario where our youth movement moves forward and secondary scoring is achieved.

I leave you with a highly speculative line projection for my own amusement.:

Prospal-Richards-Gaborik

Frolov-Christensen-MZA

Dubinsky-Anisimov-Prust

Avery-Drury-Weise/Boogaard

Staal -Girardi

Del Zotto-Gilroy

McDonagh-Eminger

Thoughts?