Eakins will be gone next year. I'm going to have to check out Cap Friendly to see what UFA D-men will be available next year. You have to figure Klingberg, Kulikov, and Beaulieu will be gone, possibly even Shattenkirk, although I've heard a rumor GMPV might want to re-sign him. Drysdale will be back and that will definitely help and they might have Zelleweger and maybe Mintykov on the back end. It will be a while before they start to challenge for the playoffs but I believe the pieces are there.
On a different note, I've been watching the Kings-Pens game, why the hell didn't Sullivan start Tokarski last night? They probably still would have won and you'd have a decent goalie playing against a better team. Bizarre decision.