If they go with an AHL/Junior option for the 4C slot, I'm hoping they surround him with veteran wingers. I could see something like:
Dorsett - Cassels - Hansen being an effective shutdown unit, though it's highly unlikely Cassels will make the team next year.
It's too bad the team is hellbent on turning Gaunce into a LW, because his age/size/skillset fits the 4C needs of the team pretty perfectly.
Virtanen may warrant a look on the third line:
Higgins - Horvat - Virtanen looks to be a pretty safe mix to me--at least on paper. Horvat and Higgins are defensive stalwarts beyond all reproach and Virtanen looks to have his defensive game in order as well. My only concern is that Higgins may be an offensive anchor that brings down that entire line. Those three together may only produce 25-30 points each over an entire season and that's not something anyone wants for Horvat or Virtanen. It is encouraging that Horvat has shown he can produce points even with guys you wouldn't typically expect offence from--he makes players around him better--though Higgins' ability to negate his linemate's offensive production can not be underestimated (*ahem*AMEX line/any PP unit with him on it/anytime Higgins and Bonino saw ice at the same time).
As for Sven, I think you have to play the guy at 2LW. He will be an instant upgrade on last year's model and has the potential to make that second line dynamic. If WD/the organization can get over whatever issue they seemingly has with Kassian, we could see a really dynamic 2nd line start to take shape.
Baertschi - Bonino - Kassian
A shifty second line with a good mix of skill, speed, and size. Shame that Zack will probably be traded for a second round pick at the draft (not really based on anything, though the fact that JB has been on 1040 twice in the last few weeks and no one has really asked about him leads me to believe that there is a team-mandated fatwa against the topic of ZK while they desperately try to divest themselves of the enigmatic forward).
I'd be willing to wager that there's probably a whiteboard in WD's office that looks something like this:
Baertschi - Bonino - Vrbata
Not bad, but soft as charmin under running water. I don't particularly like the chemistry between Bonino and Vrbata: both shoot first players who aren't exactly creative with the puck on their stick. There's going to be a metric ton of pressure on Baertschi to make plays in the offensive zone because of this, and that's a bad situation to thrust a young player into.