The only thing that gives me hope is Benning's relationship with Iginla and Boston's inability to sign him. Benning would need to convince him that we're a contender, and Iginla puts us one step closer.
I'm probably crazy, but I could imagine us being really good next season if Benning can sign the right guys to the right contracts. We have almost $18 million in cap space, around $6 million will probably go to resigning RFAs. That leaves us enough space to sign a couple of good free agents. If we could sign Iginla and another difference-maker, and have some of the young guys step up and the Sedins return to point-per-game form, we could be pretty good. Probably not Stanley Cup good, but competitive.